US lawmakers urge Olympic Committee to ensure rights protections ahead of Beijing winter games

[Elderberry]

Radio Free Asia 12/6/2019

U.S. lawmakers have called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to speed up implementation of an agenda requiring host cities to adhere to rights protections ahead of Beijing’s Winter Games in 2022, citing reports of widespread abuses in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

In a letter dated Dec. 5, a bipartisan group of 10 U.S. Senators urged IOC President Thomas Bach to put the Olympic Agenda 2020 and the corresponding Host City Contract into practice in time for the 2022 Olympic Games instead of the current timeline of 2024, citing China’s “exploitation of human labor and violation of human rights.”

“We hold great concern that the People’s Republic of China, a country plagued with violent suppression of free speech, state-sponsored oppression, and human rights abuses, is set to serve as host to the 2022 Olympic Winter Games without proper guidelines or requirements,” said the senators.

“Rightfully present in the revised Host City Contract under the Olympic Agenda 2020 is an address of the host city’s respect of human rights,” they said.

More: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/olympics-12062019140443.html

[PeteS in CA]

I'll have to ask my daughter how, "Not going to happen," would be said in Mandarin.