Title: A 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.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution calls for the International Olympic Committee to rebid the 2022 Winter Olympics if China fails to demonstrate significant progress in securing fundamental human rights. The resolution also expresses support for the well-being of Olympic athletes and the integrity of sport.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 526 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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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--

    (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 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, detained 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--

    G    (A) the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre;

    G    (B) human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; 
and

    G    (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;
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 cybersecurity 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
    Resolved, That--
            (1) the Senate supports the values of Olympism and the 
        principles of Team USA with respect to the protection of--
                    (A) the rights, safety, and well-being of athletes; 
                and
                    (B) the integrity of sport; and
            (2) it is the sense of the Senate that, consistent with the 
        principles of the International Olympic Committee, unless the 
        Government of the People's Republic of China demonstrates 
        significant progress in securing fundamental human rights, 
        including the freedoms of religion, speech, movement, 
        association, and assembly, by January 1, 2021, the 
        International Olympic Committee should rebid the 2022 Winter 
        Olympics to be hosted by a country that recognizes and respects 
        human rights.
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