III 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 526 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the International Olympic Committee 

should rebid the 2022 Winter Olympic Games to be hosted by a country 

that recognizes and respects human rights. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 3, 2020 

Mr. SCOTT of Florida (for himself, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. BRAUN, Mr. DURBIN, 

Mr. COTTON, Mr. YOUNG, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. RUBIO, 

Ms. MCSALLY, Mrs. LOEFFLER, and Mr. JONES) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the International 

Olympic Committee should rebid the 2022 Winter Olympic Games to be hosted by a country that recognizes 

and respects human rights. 

Whereas the International Olympic Committee has announced 

Beijing, People’s Republic of China, as the host city of 

the 2022 Winter Olympic Games; 

Whereas the Olympic charter states that the goal of 

Olympism is to promote ‘‘a peaceful society concerned 

with the preservation of human dignity’’; 

Whereas the 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report of the Department of State relating to the People’s Republic of 

China indicates that— 


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•SRES 526 IS 

(1) authorities in the People’s Republic of China 

have arbitrarily detained more than 1,000,000 ethnic 

Muslims, including Uyghur, ethnic Kazakh, and Kyrgyz 

individuals, in as many as 1,200 ‘‘vocational training centers’’, which are internment camps designed to erase ethnic and religious identities; 

(2) the national household registry system of the 

People’s Republic of China restricts the freedom of rural 

inhabitants to legally change their workplace or residence, placing the internal migrant population of the 

People’s Republic of China at high risk of forced labor 

in brick kilns, coal mines, and factories; 

(3) the Government of the People’s Republic of 

China subjects Christians and members of other religious 

groups to forced labor in brick kilns, food processing centers, and factories as part of detention for the purpose 

of ideological indoctrination; and 

(4) the Government of the People’s Republic of 

China provides financial incentives for companies to open 

factories near the internment camps, and local governments receive additional funds from the Government of 

the People’s Republic of China for each inmate forced to 

work in an internment camp; 

Whereas in October 2019, Radio Free Asia reported that— 

(1) the Government of the People’s Republic of 

China, as part of its Pair Up and Become Family program, assigns male Han Chinese ‘‘relatives’’ to monitor 

the homes of Uyghur families in the Xinjiang Uyghur 

Autonomous Region (XUAR) and to regularly sleep in 

the same beds as the wives of men detained in the internment camps of the region; and 

(2) Uyghur individuals who protest hosting ‘‘relatives’’ or refuse to take part in study sessions or other 


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activities with the officials in their homes are subject to 

additional restrictions and may face detention in the internment camps; 

Whereas in July 2019, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, 

Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, 

Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the 

Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, 

Switzerland, and the United Kingdom jointly condemned 

the arbitrary detention and surveillance of Uyghur individuals and other minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; 

Whereas in June 2019, the Independent Tribunal Into 

Forced Organ Harvesting from Prisoners of Conscience 

in China of the China Tribunal found that— 

(1) forced organ harvesting has been carried out for 

years throughout the People’s Republic of China on a significant scale, and practitioners of Falun Gong have been 

the main source of organs; and 

(2) the Government of the People’s Republic of 

China has committed crimes against humanity with respect to Uyghur individuals and practitioners of Falun 

Gong; 

Whereas the report of Freedom House entitled ‘‘Freedom in 

the World 2019’’ indicates that— 

(1) women, ethnic and religious minorities, and the 

LGBT community in the People’s Republic of China have 

no opportunity to gain meaningful political representation 

and are barred from advancing their interests outside the 

formal structures of the Communist Party of China; 

(2) foreign journalists in the People’s Republic of 

China were surveilled, harassed, physically abused, deVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:58 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR526.IS SR526

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tained to prevent meetings with certain individuals, and 

had their visas withheld; 

(3) hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners have recently received long prison terms, and many other individuals were arbitrarily detained in various ‘‘legal education’’ facilities, where they were tortured, sometimes fatally, until they abandoned their beliefs; 

(4) limitations on due process in the People’s Republic of China, including the excessive use of pretrial detention, are rampant, and an extended crackdown on 

human rights lawyers has weakened the access of defendants to independent legal counsel; and 

(5) individuals attempting to petition the Government of the People’s Republic of China with respect to 

grievances or injustices are routinely intercepted in their 

efforts to travel to Beijing, forcefully returned to their 

hometowns, or subjected to extralegal detention in ‘‘black 

jails’’, psychiatric institutions, and other sites at which 

they are at risk of abuse; 

Whereas the annual report of the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China for 2019 indicates that— 

(1) the one-party authoritarian political system of 

the People’s Republic of China deprives the people of the 

People’s Republic of China of their right to meaningfully 

participate in electoral processes and public life generally; 

(2) in 2019, the Government of the People’s Republic of China detained and prosecuted individuals who 

criticized government officials and policies online and 

censored or distorted a range of news and information 

that the Government of the People’s Republic of China 

considered ‘‘politically sensitive’’, including— 

(A) the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen 

Square massacre; 


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(B) human rights abuses in the Xinjiang 

Uyghur Autonomous Region; and 

(C) the protests in Hong Kong against proposed extradition legislation; 

(3) Hong Kong authorities, under the influence of 

the Government of the People’s Republic of China, violated fundamental freedoms of the people of Hong Kong, 

as articulated in the Basic Law, including the freedoms 

of expression, association, and assembly; 

(4) the Government of the People’s Republic of 

China has used propaganda, disinformation, and censorship in an attempt to shape reporting on the Hong Kong 

protests, attributing the protests to influence by ‘‘foreign 

forces’’, and threatening protesters in Hong Kong; 

(5) officials of the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Communist Party of China continue to abuse criminal law and police power to punish 

critics and ‘‘maintain stability’’ with the goal of perpetuating one-party rule, often targeting human rights advocates, religious believers, and ethnic minority groups; and 

(6) the Government of the People’s Republic of 

China is likely committing crimes against humanity; 

Whereas, before the 2008 Summer Olympics were held in 

Beijing, the Department of State Country Report on 

Human Rights Practices for 2006 reported that the Government of the People’s Republic of China practiced severe cultural and religious repression of minorities, especially of Uyghur individuals in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and according to the Department of 

State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 

2018, such repression has intensified since the 2008 

Summer Olympics in Beijing; 


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Whereas four Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations 

have urged the governing authorities in Hong Kong and 

the People’s Republic of China to ensure protestors in 

Hong Kong may fully exercise the right to peacefully assemble, including— 

(1) the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and 

protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; 

(2) the Special Rapporteur on the situation of 

human rights defenders; 

(3) the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom 

of peaceful assembly and of association; and 

(4) the Special Rapporteur on torture and other 

cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; 

Whereas police in Hong Kong have arrested more than 6,000 

individuals and fired more than 16,000 rounds of tear 

gas during the seven months of protests by people of 

Hong Kong seeking to uphold their liberties and the autonomy of Hong Kong, as articulated in the Basic Law 

of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the 

People’s Republic of China (referred to in this preamble 

as the ‘‘Basic Law’’); 

Whereas the report of the Network of Chinese Human Rights 

Defenders entitled ‘‘Defending Rights in a ‘No Rights 

Zone’: Annual Report on the Situation of Human Rights 

Defenders in China (2018)’’ indicates that— 

(1) authorities in the People’s Republic of China 

continue to charge Tibetans with ‘‘inciting separatism’’ 

for expressing political or religious dissent and impose 

heavy prison sentences on such individuals; 

(2) the Government of the People’s Republic of 

China continues to implement its draconian 2017 cyberVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:58 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR526.IS SR526

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security law, which authorizes invasive cyber surveillance 

and provides broad authority to restrict and penalize online expression; 

(3) the Government of the People’s Republic of 

China intends to have ‘‘full coverage, connectivity, and 

control’’ of the entire People’s Republic of China by police video surveillance by 2020; and 

(4) the Government of the People’s Republic of 

China boldly retaliates against human rights advocates 

for their work upholding international standards and cooperating with the United Nations human rights mechanisms; 

Whereas in January 2020, the editorial board of The Washington Post questioned whether the People’s Republic of 

China should ‘‘be allowed to host the 2022 Winter Olympics in one city while running concentration camps in another’’; and 

Whereas the flagrant human rights abuses committed by the 

Government of the People’s Republic of China are inconsistent with Olympic values: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That— 

2 (1) the Senate supports the values of Olympism 

3 and the principles of Team USA with respect to the 

4 protection of— 

5 (A) the rights, safety, and well-being of 

6 athletes; and 

7 (B) the integrity of sport; and 

8 (2) it is the sense of the Senate that, consistent 

9 with the principles of the International Olympic 


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1 Committee, unless the Government of the People’s 

2 Republic of China demonstrates significant progress 

3 in securing fundamental human rights, including the 

4 freedoms of religion, speech, movement, association, 

5 and assembly, by January 1, 2021, the International 

6 Olympic Committee should rebid the 2022 Winter 

7 Olympics to be hosted by a country that recognizes 

8 and respects human rights. 

Æ 


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