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WORLD NEWS Thursday 10 sepTember 2020

Human rights groups ask

IOC to move Olympics

from China

By STEPHEN WADE spirit of the Olympic Char-
AP Sports Writer ter.
TOKYO (AP) — China's re- China has repeatedly de-
pression in Tibet, the status nied human rights abuses.
of the exiled Dalai Lama It at first said the camps
and its treatment of ethnic for Uighurs didn't exist and
minorities spurred violent then said they were job
protests ahead of Beijing's training centers to combat
2008 Olympics. terrorism.
It could happen again. "Through vocational edu-
Beijing is to host the 2022 cation and training, Xinji-
Winter Olympics with rum- ang has taken preventive
blings of a boycott and counter-terrorism and de-
calls to move the games radicalization measures,
because of alleged human effectively contained the
rights violations. once frequent terrorist ac- Visitors to Chongli, one of the venues for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, past by the Olympics
A coalition of human rights tivities, and protected the logo in Chongli in northern China's Hebei Province on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. Associated Press.
groups delivered that de- right to life, health and
mand to International development of all ethnic 2022 Winter Olympics," it After European cities such host city contract for the
Olympic Committee Presi- groups," another spokes- said. "We think not." as Oslo and Stockholm 2024 Paris Olympics, but
dent Thomas Bach ahead person, Hua Chunying, These are precarious times dropped out, the IOC was it did not include those
of the body's executive said last week. "Over the for the Swiss-based IOC. left with only two bidders guidelines — the United
board meeting in Switzer- past four years there hasn't Its finances — and those for 2022: Beijing and Alma- Nations Guiding Principles
land on Wednesday. In a been a single terrorist at- of 200 national Olympic ty, Kazakhstan. Beijing won on Business and Human
letter, the group asked the tack in Xinjiang." committees and dozens by four votes, taking the Rights — for Beijing. Paris is
IOC to "reverse its mistake in The IOC argued the 2008 of Olympic-related sports Winter Olympics to a coun- the first Olympics to contain
awarding Beijing the honor Olympics would transform federations — have been try with no tradition — but the standards, long pushed
of hosting the Winter Olym- China and improve its hu- shaken by the postpone- a giant, untapped market. for by human rights groups.
pic Games in 2022." man rights record. Instead, ment of the Tokyo Olym- Juan Antonio Samaranch "NGOs, celebrities and oth-
The letter said that the 2008 they are often compared pics until 2021 because of Jr., the IOC member er activist groups will put
Olympics had failed to im- to Hitler's 1936 Berlin Olym- COVID-19. who oversees the Beijing tremendous pressure on
prove China's human rights pics; an authoritarian state Bach warned two months Games, declined to answer China in the run-up to the
record, and that since then, using the games as a stage. ago against boycotts but questions from The Associ- games calling for boycotts,
it has built "an Orwellian sur- A Washington Post editorial said he was not referring ated Press about reported etc.," Victor Cha, a former
veillance network" in Tibet this month suggested Chi- specifically to Beijing. The human rights violations in White House adviser on
and incarcerated more na should lose the Olym- Swiss-based body gener- Xinjiang and referred to Asia, said in an email to the
than a million Uighurs, a pics. ates 73% of its revenue from comments from the IOC. AP. "I think the IOC would
mostly Muslim ethnic group, "The world must ask wheth- selling television rights and "Awarding the Olympic be very reluctant to take
in the Xinjiang region. It list- er China, slowly strangling 18% from sponsors and has Games to a national Olym- 2022 away from Beijing."
ed a litany of other alleged an entire people, has the seen its income stalled by pic committee does not China is also the host for
abuses from Hong Kong to moral standing to host the the Tokyo delay. mean that the IOC agrees the 2022 Asian Games in
the Inner Mongolia region, with the political structure, Hangzhou.
as well as the intimidation social circumstances or hu- Athletes have shown their
of Taiwan. man rights standards in the power in supporting Black
Asked Wednesday about country," the IOC said in an Lives Matter protests in the
preparations in China for email to the AP. United States and else-
the 2022 Olympics at an The IOC said it has "re- where. German soccer
IOC news conference, ceived assurances that the player Mesut Ozil, a Muslim
Bach made no reference principles of the Olympic with Turkish roots, has spo-
to human rights issues or Charter will be respected in ken out against China and
the letter sent. the context of the games." coined the phrase: "Muslim
Chinese foreign ministry It added it must remain Lives Matter." He has been
spokesperson Zhao Lijian "neutral on all global politi- critical that Muslim-majority
accused the groups of cal issues." countries like Indonesia and
trying to politicize sports, The IOC included human Malaysia have remained
which he said is against the rights requirements in the silent.q