Sec. 30315. Policy toward the XXIV Olympic Winter Games and the XIII Paralympic Winter Games
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/bill/117/hr/4521/eh/section-30315·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Congress finds the following: In October 2020, 39 countries at the United Nations Third Committee of the General Assembly appealed for action on the mass arbitrary detentions and other crimes against the Uyghur Muslim population of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The 2018 concluding observations of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination decried reports of mass arbitrary detention of Uyghurs. Over 400 international nongovernmental organizations have joined together to decry the mass arbitrary detentions of Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
The Olympic Charter states that the practice of sport is a human right that shall be secured without discrimination of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status , a right that by definition cannot be secured in a country in which over 1,000,000 people are imprisoned in camps because of their race, language, and religion. The 2008 Olympics in Beijing were accompanied by widespread tracking, arrest, and intimidation of foreign journalists and bloggers, as well as restrictions on movement of journalists, contrary to explicit commitments made by the Government of the People’s Republic of China
(PRC)to the International Olympic Committee. The Government of the PRC denied visas for some journalists granted press accreditation for the 2008 Olympic Games, and the Beijing Organising Committee of the Olympic Games repeatedly refused to address incidents involving freedom of expression. The International Olympic Committee faced broad criticism for failing to adequately anticipate infringements by the Government of the PRC’s on freedom of expression and press for international media and 2008 Olympics participants, and failing to hold the Government of the PRC to their own commitments to safeguard human rights during the 2008 games. It is the sense of Congress that the International Olympic Committee should— consider that the Olympic Charter’s principles of solidarity and nondiscrimination are hard to reconcile with holding the 2022 Winter Games in a country the government of which stands credibly accused of perpetrating crimes against humanity and genocide against ethnic and religious minorities; take into account the recent precedent of the 2008 games, at which Olympic athletes, spectators, and international media had their fundamental freedoms severely challenged, and the likely limitations the Government of the PRC will seek to enforce on participants speaking out about ongoing persecution of the Uyghurs and other human rights abuses in the PRC, despite repeated commitments by the Government of the PRC; emphasize that the International Olympic Committee is not opposed to moving an Olympic competition in all circumstances, and should immediately rebid the 2022 Winter Olympic Games to be hosted by a country that recognizes and respects human rights; develop a framework for reprimanding or disqualifying host cities and the countries in which they are located if the governments of such countries are actively committing mass atrocities— during the Olympic and Paralympic bidding process; or between a city’s election as a host city and the duration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games that its government is hosting; affirm the International Olympic Committee’s— desire to stay above politics does not permit turning a blind eye to mass atrocity crimes, which cannot and should not be dismissed as mere political concerns; and commitment to the fundamental rights instruments of the international system, which are beyond partisan or domestic policy, and upon which the success of the entire Olympic project depends; not hold future Olympic games in countries that are committing genocide; propose a set of clear, executable actions to be taken by the International Olympic Committee upon infringement of freedom of expression by a host country’s government during any Olympics event, including the 2022 Winter Olympics, against athletes, participants, and international media; and rescind Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter, which restricts the freedom of expression by athletes when competing during Olympics events, and affirm the rights of athletes to political and other speech during athletic competitions, including speech that is critical of their host countries. It shall be the policy of the United States— to implement a presidential and cabinet level diplomatic boycott of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games and the XIII Paralympic Winter Games in the PRC; to encourage other nations, especially democratic partners and allies, to do the same; and to call for an end to the Chinese Communist Party’s ongoing human rights abuses, including the Uyghur genocide.