No Beijing 2022: Tibetan NGOs urge India, world for diplomatic boycott of 2022 ‘Genocide Games’
DHARAMSALA, 5 Jan: Tibetan NGOs here in the exile headquarters of the Tibetan people called on India and governments around the world to openly call for the Boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, a month before the games are scheduled to begin in China.
Activists from five Tibetan NGOs from here- Tibetan Youth Congress, Tibetan Women’s Association, National Democratic Party of Tibet, Gu-Chu-Sum Movement Association of Tibet and Students for a Free Tibet-India- made the call as they joined a coalition of over a hundred human rights groups representing Uyghur, Southern Mongolian, Hongkonger, Taiwanese, and Chinese people, along with other international human rights organisations to mark the ‘No Beijing 2022’ Global Action day yesterday.
A joint statement issued by the NGOs declared that the International Olympics Committee(IOC) failed them by turning a blind eye to China’s genocide and human rights violations.
“As IOC completely failed to take action despite clear evidence of genocide, widespread and worsening human rights failures, we would like to urge governments to openly call for the Boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics,” the statement read.
The activists staged a visual protest depicting the current grim human rights situation inside Tibet under the Chinese rule, as they urged India and governments around the world to openly call for the Boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics “as a way to build pressure on China to take positive, tangible steps to end the overwhelming human rights situation.”
Noting that the US, Lithuanian, New Zealand, Scotland, Belgium, Taiwan, Australia, UK, Canada and Kosovo have all announced a diplomatic boycott of the “Genocide Games,” the NGOs have stated that India, as the largest democratic country in the world should join the chorus “to counterbalance China and let China know that India won’t stay silent to the human rights atrocities and stand with justice.”
“We call on governments to commit to the boycott of the 2022 Beijing winter Olympic games to ensure they are not used to embolden the Chinese government’s appalling rights abuses and the crackdown on dissent,” it added.
Meanwhile, coordinated by International Tibet Network, the coalition has also launched a campaign to call on Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games broadcasters to cancel showing the ‘Genocide Games’.
“By broadcasting Beijing 2022 NBC, BBC, CBC and SEVEN will be complicit in China’s plan to ‘sport wash’ the severe and worsening human rights abuses and embolden the actions of the Chinese authorities,” International Tibet Network said.
The Games are scheduled to begin on 4 Feb, but calls to boycott it continue to get steam.
