{"id":1004011,"date":"2021-11-12T16:28:35","date_gmt":"2021-11-12T21:28:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1004011"},"modified":"2021-11-12T16:28:41","modified_gmt":"2021-11-12T21:28:41","slug":"human-rights-watch-olympics-sponsors-must-pressure-china-to-stop-atrocities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/human-rights-watch-olympics-sponsors-must-pressure-china-to-stop-atrocities\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Rights Watch: Olympics Sponsors Must Pressure China to Stop Atrocities"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhuman-rights-watch-olympics-sponsors-must-pressure-china-to-stop-atrocities%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1004011&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">The international organization Human Rights Watch demanded in a statement on Sunday that sponsors of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics certify that and explain how their participation in the event \u2013 held in a country currently committing genocide \u2013 does not involve or enable gross human rights atrocities.<\/p>\n<p>The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is under pressure from international human rights groups, persecuted minorities, and public officials all around the world over its decision to grant China the honor of host an Olympic Games session given its status as the world\u2019s most prolific human rights abuses. China is currently engaging in a genocidal campaign against the Uyghur people of East Turkestan, an occupied region China refers to as Xinjiang, and is believed to have built hundreds of concentration camps in the region to torture, indoctrinate, enslave, and sterilize members of the minority. Similar camps are believed to also exist in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2020\/09\/23\/study-china-has-forced-500000-tibetans-into-labor-camps-this-year\/\">Tibet<\/a>, home to some of the Communist Party\u2019s most extreme atrocities for decades.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<div id=\"attachment_18714634\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" readability=\"40\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2021\/11\/wi\/ap\/11\/beijing-sponsors-human-rights-exiled-tibetans-olympic-rings-prop-hold-street-protest.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-18714634 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/beijing-sponsors-human-rights-exiled-tibetans-olympic-rings-prop-hold-street-protest-1024x683-1.jpg\" alt=\"The Associated Press\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Exiled Tibetans use the Olympic Rings as a prop as they hold a street protest against the holding of 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in Dharmsala, India on Feb. 3, 2021. Leading sponsors of the Beijing Winter Olympics should explain publicly why they remain silent about alleged human rights abuses in China with the Games opening there in just under three months, Human Rights Watch said Friday, Nov. 12, 2021 in a statement. (AP Photo\/Ashwini Bhatia)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In addition to genocidal abuses, the Communist Party regularly imprisons and torture political dissidents of all ethnic backgrounds, members of \u201cillegal\u201d religious faiths, and anyone it deems a barrier to dictator Xi Jinping\u2019s complete stranglehold on power. China also outsources these abuses by pressuring foreign governments and corporations to silence anyone criticizing Beijing\u2019s practices or face swift economic retribution.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this, China has obtained not just the honor of hosting the Olympics, but lavish investments from multinational corporations sponsoring the Olympics.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_18668578\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" readability=\"41\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1236331935.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18668578\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1236331935.jpg\" alt width=\"1024\" height=\"621\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Activists rally in front of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles, California on November 3, 2021, calling for a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics due to concerns over China\u2019s human rights record. \u2013 Activists lobbied Olympic broadcasters, including NBC, BBC, CBC and Sky to \u201cimmediately cancel broadcasting deals\u201d to televise the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics or \u201cface risk of being complicit in the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s severe and worsening human rights abuses\u201d. (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Among the members of the <a href=\"https:\/\/olympics.com\/ioc\/partners\">Olympic Partner Program<\/a> \u2013 the most expensive sponsorship level \u2013 are American companies such as Coca-Cola, Proctor &amp; Gamble, General Electric, Visa, and AirBnB.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe International Olympic Committee\u2019s major corporate sponsors should explain publicly how they are using their leverage to address human rights abuses in China ahead of the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games,\u201d Human Rights Watch <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/news\/2021\/11\/12\/china-olympics-sponsors-spotlight-games-loom\">asserted<\/a> on Friday. \u201cSponsors should also press the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to adopt a human rights policy to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for any adverse human rights impacts across all Olympic operations and events, including for the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_18672154\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" readability=\"37\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1233609591.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-18672154 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1233609591-1024x683-1.jpg\" alt width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>This photograph taken on June 23, 2021 shows a placard representing barber wire shaping and Olympics Rings are seen next to a sign of the Olympics Museum during a protest organised by Tibetan and Uyghur activists against Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, in Lausanne as some 200 participants took part to the protest. (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The statement featured several demands for the sponsors, including pressuring the IOC to \u201cpromulgate a human rights policy and add human rights to the \u2018fundamental principles\u2019 of the Olympic Charter\u201d \u2013 human rights are not an explicit goal supported by the Olympics at this time \u2013 and to \u201cpublicly certify that operations in China do not entail labor abuses or other rights violations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other demands include speaking out for the many political prisoners trapped in China, pressuring China using their economic leverage to respect human rights, and call for an investigation into the Uyghur genocide.<\/p>\n<p>Human Rights Watch noted that it had attempted to communicate to the Olympic partners \u2013 the most powerful sponsors \u2013 but none offered any concrete assurances on not participating in human rights abuses. The non-governmental organization noted that the partners \u201ccollectively pay billions of dollars in fees to be associated with the five Olympics Rings brand and are a significant source of IOC income.\u201d The Olympics would likely not be a lucrative endeavor for IOC officials without these partners.<\/p>\n<p>The human rights group noted that all but one Olympics sponsor in the partnership program had endorsed a United Nations document affirming that corporations had a responsibility to defend human rights.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"10.12389380531\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Olympics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Olympics<\/a> sponsors in spotlight as Games in\ud83c\uddf3China loom.<\/p>\n<p>Corporations should explain publicly how they are using their leverage to address human rights abuses in China ahead of the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games.<\/p>\n<p>New research Human Rights Watch\ud83d\udc47<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7ZDxlxnkYs\">https:\/\/t.co\/7ZDxlxnkYs<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lYmPT4KqVM\">pic.twitter.com\/lYmPT4KqVM<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jan Kooy (@KooyJan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KooyJan\/status\/1459079322317299712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 12, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cAccording to the IOC\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/olympics.com\/ioc\/partners\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">website<\/a>, the TOP sponsors include&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.intel.com\/content\/dam\/www\/public\/us\/en\/documents\/corporate-information\/policy-human-rights.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Intel<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.omegacompliance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Human-Rights-Policy.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Omega<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.panasonic.com\/global\/corporate\/sustainability\/pdf\/sdb2021e-human_rights.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Panasonic<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.samsung.com\/latin_en\/sustainability\/labor-and-human-rights\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Samsung<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/us.pg.com\/policies-and-practices\/human-rights-statement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">P&amp;G<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/global.toyota\/en\/sustainability\/esg\/human-rights\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Toyota<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/usa.visa.com\/about-visa\/esg\/operating-responsibly.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Visa<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/news.airbnb.com\/nondiscriminationupdate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Airbnb<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/atos.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/atos-human-rights-policy-statement.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Atos<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bridgestone.com\/responsibilities\/human_rights\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bridgestone<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coca-colacompany.com\/policies-and-practices\/human-rights-principles\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Coca-Cola<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.allianz.com\/en\/sustainability\/ratings\/business\/human-rights.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Allianz<\/a>, and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.alibabagroup.com\/en\/ir\/governance_4#:~:text=Alibaba%20Group%20is%20committed%20to%20providing%20equal%20opportunity%20and%20fair,be%20prohibited%20by%20applicable%20laws.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alibaba<\/a>,\u201d Human Rights Watch observed. \u201cMany of the Olympic sponsors have policies committing them to work within a human rights framework and to disclose how they identify and address human rights risks.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>Alibaba, one of China\u2019s wealthiest companies, is a notable exception.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are just three months until the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, but corporate sponsors remain silent over how they are using their influence to address China\u2019s appalling human rights record,\u201d&nbsp;Sophie Richardson, Human Rights Watch\u2019s China director, said in a statement on Friday. \u201cThey are squandering the opportunity to show their commitment to human rights standards and risk instead being associated with an Olympics tainted by censorship and repression.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The group joined a growing chorus of voices urging the world to reconsider granting China the honor of hosting the Olympic Games in light of its status as a rogue state.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe international community has a rare opportunity to send a strong signal that China\u2019s rights abuses are unacceptable,\u201d David Curry, the CEO of religious freedom organization Open Doors, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2021\/08\/21\/exclusive-christian-aid-group-asks-corporations-to-drop-beijing-olympics\/\">told<\/a> Breitbart News in August. \u201cThe International Olympic Committee should re-evaluate its role in rewarding the CCP\u2019s bad behavior with the 2022 Games, and corporate sponsors should consider withdrawing their support.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Open Doors <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opendoorsusa.org\/christian-persecution\/world-watch-list\/china\/\">publishes<\/a> an annual World Watch List that ranks the globe\u2019s most severe religious persecution practitioners; China moved up six spots between 2020 and 2021, largely on the back of its genocide of Uyghur Muslims, crackdowns on \u201cillegal\u201d Christian churches, and persecution of Tibetan Buddhists, among others.<\/p>\n<p>Several representatives of the Beijing Olympics\u2019 corporate sponsors were called to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/sports\/2021\/07\/28\/coke-visa-airbnb-beijing-olympics-uyghur-genocide\/\">testify<\/a>&nbsp;before the U.S. Congress over their role in the event in July.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSponsors like Visa have no say in the countries selected by the IOC to host the Games,\u201d that company\u2019s representative insisted. \u201cIt has been that way for the entirety of our 35-year partnership and remains that way today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe support and follow the athletes wherever they compete,\u201d the Coca-Cola representative insisted.<\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Frances Martel on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/francesimartel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">Facebook<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/francesmartel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">Twitter.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The international organization Human Rights Watch demanded in a statement on Sunday that sponsors of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics certify that and explain how their participation in the event 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