Beijing 2022: 180 human rights groups call for Winter Olympics boycott

More than 180 human rights organisations have called for a boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games in protest against China’s mass human rights abuses. The coalition of groups – primarily regional associations in support of Tibet, Taiwan, the Uighur community and Hong Kong – said the hopes in 2015 that awarding Beijing the Games would be a catalyst for progress, had faded.

“Since then … President Xi Jinping has unleashed an unrelenting crackdown on basic freedom and human rights,” the group said, calling on governments to boycott the event to ensure it wasn’t used to “embolden” the Chinese government as they said the 2008 summer Olympics had done.

The open letter published this week said: “The IOC [ International Olympic Committee] refused to listen in 2008, defending its decision with claims that they would prove to be a catalyst for improved human rights. As human rights experts predicted, this decision proved to be hugely misplaced; not only did China’s human rights record not improve but violations increased substantially without rebuke.

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