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UK representation at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics

EDM (Early Day Motion) 149: tabled on 07 June 2021

Tabled in the 2021-22 session.

This motion has been signed by 15 Members. It has not yet had any amendments submitted.

Motion text

That this House notes with concern that the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics will take place alongside a rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where Uyghurs and other minority groups are subject to widespread forced labour, sterilization, political indoctrination and arbitrary detention; reaffirms its opinion that Uyghurs and other minority groups in the Uyghur Region are victims of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity; reminds the International Olympics Committee that the Olympic Charter’s principles of solidarity and non-discrimination are hard to reconcile with holding the 2022 Winter Games in a country whose Government stands credibly accused of perpetrating Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide; affirms that the International Olympic Committee’s desire to stay above politics does not permit turning a blind eye to mass atrocity crimes; urges the International Olympics Committee to initiate an emergency search process for suitable replacement facilities for the 2022 Winter Games; calls on the Government to decline invitations for state officials to attend the 2022 Winter Games so long as Beijing remains the host venue; advises the Government to discourage companies operating in the UK from acting as commercial sponsors for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics; recognises that individual athletes have the right to choose whether to participate in the Olympic Games or not and urges them to think carefully about whether they should take part; and encourages the Chinese Government to work with international partners to take verifiable steps to improve the human rights situation of Uyghurs and other persecuted groups.