MONTRÉAL, Québec (CU)_More than a dozen Canadian lawmakers are calling for the 2022 Winter Olympics scheduled to be held in China, to be moved outside of the East Asian country, due to Beijing’s abuse of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities.
In an open letter signed by 13 MPs from all parties, the lawmakers cited a “genocide campaign” by the Chinese government, warning that participating in the Olympics in Beijing would amount to taking part is a “sinister, self-aggrandizing spectacle” staged for the benefit of the communist regime which is perpetrating “the worst possible crimes” against humanity and against its own people.
The letter recalls the 1936 Berlin games under the Nazi regime, and insists that the International Olympic Committee relocate the global competition to avoid having athletes “tainted” by the event.
In October last year, a Canadian parliamentary subcommittee concluded in a report that China’s use of forced birth control to limit Uighur births, amounts to genocide.
Moreover, the communist regime of the East Asian country has also been accused of carrying out detention camps to mould and brainwash the mostly-Muslim minority into mainstream Chinese society. However, Beijing has denied any wrongdoing, saying it is merely running a voluntary employment and language-training program.
The letter also highlights several other accusations, including the kidnapping of adults and children, mass rapes and other forms of torture, as well as the tracking of Uighurs around the globe through surveillance camera systems and artificial intelligence.
It states that while some may argue that sports and politics should not mix, however, when genocide is being committed, it no longer a matter of politics, but of human rights and crimes against humanity.
The recent letter follows a call from around 180 human rights groups to boycott the Beijing games, although the statement calls for a relocation of the global competition instead of a boycott.
“We are not asking our athletes to give up their Olympic dream, because we know full well how much effort will have gone into pursuing it,” the letter read.
Gold medallist Jean-Luc Brassard, former Liberal cabinet minister Irwin Cotler, Conservative MP Kelly Block, Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, NDP MP Jenny Kwan, Green MP Elizabeth May were signatories to the letter which was spearheaded by Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe.
