Supporting a diplomatic boycott of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games and XIII Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing, and encouraging the International Olympic Committee to develop a framework for reprimanding or disqualifying host countries that are committing mass atrocities.

Bill: 117-hres-812
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Langevin, James R. [D-RI-2]
Introduced: 2021-11-18
Policy area: International Affairs
Latest action: action_date: 2021-11-18
text: Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Summaries:
action_date: 2021-11-18
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p>This resolution urges all U.S. government officials to decline invitations to the XXIV Olympic Winter Games and XIII Paralympic Winter Games as part of an official diplomatic delegation unless </p> <ul> <li>the International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee move the XXIV Olympic Winter Games and XIII Paralympic Winter Games to a city under the jurisdiction of a government that is not committing mass atrocities, or</li> <li>the Department of State has certified that the Chinese Communist Party has stopped committing acts of genocide and that the perpetrators have accounted for their crimes. </li> </ul> <p>The resolution also encourages the International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee to develop a framework for reprimanding or disqualifying host cities and the countries in which they are located if their governments are actively committing mass atrocities. </p>

tv_txt: IV 117th CONGRESS 1st Session H. RES. 812 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES November 18, 2021 Mr. Langevin (for himself, Mr. Perlmutter , Mr. Curtis , and Ms. Stefanik ) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs RESOLUTION Supporting a diplomatic boycott of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games and XIII Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing, and encouraging the International Olympic Committee to develop a framework for reprimanding or disqualifying host countries that are committing mass atrocities.

Whereas for 125 years, the Olympic Movement has worked to build a better and more peaceful world by supporting young people through amateur athletics, bringing together athletes from many countries in friendly competition, and forging new relationships bound by friendship, solidarity, and fair play; Whereas the International Olympic Committee announced in July 2015 that Beijing would be the host city of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games; Whereas, in 2001, the International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee signed the One Bid, One City agreement, which recognizes that every Olympic host city also has an obligation to host the Paralympic Games using the same venues, facilities, and infrastructure; Whereas the terms of the One Bid, One City agreement also designate Beijing as the host city of the XIII Paralympic Winter Games; Whereas Article 2 of the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) killing members of the group; (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [or] (e) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. ; Whereas, in January 2021, the Department of State determined that the Chinese Government has committed genocide against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang , and Secretary of State Antony Blinken agreed, stating, [F]orcing men, women and children into concentration camps, trying to in effect re-educate them to be adherents to the Chinese Communist Party—all of that speaks to an effort to commit genocide. ; Whereas the Chinese Communist Party has a history of repressing the people and Government of Tibet and in 2019 initiated policies of militarized labor training and forced transfer of Tibetan farmers to work camps, echoing policies underway in Xinjiang; Whereas there are alarming reports of the Chinese Communist Party suppressing education in minority languages, such as Tibetan and Mongolian, in a state-sponsored effort for cultural homogenization; Whereas, in June 2020, the Chinese Communist Party enacted the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, which has curtailed Hong Kong’s judicial autonomy and led to mass arrests and severe punishments on prodemocracy activists and demonstrators; Whereas, on October 4, 2021, the People’s Liberation Army mounted the largest-ever incursion into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone; Whereas a diplomatic boycott of an international event involves a government declining to send a diplomatic delegation to represent the government in an official capacity; Whereas a diplomatic boycott of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games and XIII Paralympic Winter Games would not prohibit or discourage Team USA athletes and support staff from attending or participating; Whereas, on July 8, 2021, the European Parliament passed a nonbinding resolution calling on the European Commission, the Council, and the Member States to decline invitations for government representatives and diplomats to attend the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics unless the Chinese Government demonstrates a verifiable improvement in the human rights situation in Hong Kong, the Xinjiang Uyghur Region, Tibet, Inner Mongolia and elsewhere in China ; Whereas international law often identifies genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and ethnic cleansing as instances of mass atrocities; Whereas people in the United States and Europe called for a boycott of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, out of concern for human rights abuses; Whereas people in the United States and Europe called for a boycott of the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Beijing out of concern for human rights abuses committed by the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Communist Party’s refusal to condemn the Sudanese Government’s genocide in Darfur; Whereas then-President George W. Bush attended the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and the United States did not subsequently engage in any form of boycott; Whereas human rights abuses committed by the Chinese Communist Party have worsened since 2008; and Whereas a government that is hosting the Olympics and Paralympics yet also committing mass atrocities is tarnishing the spirit of the Olympics and Paralympics and is exploiting the Games to advance a false narrative of peace and unity: Now, therefore, be it

That the House of Representatives— (1) urges all United States Government officials to decline invitations to the XXIV Olympic Winter Games and XIII Paralympic Winter Games as part of an official diplomatic delegation unless— (A) the International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee move the XXIV Olympic Winter Games and XIII Paralympic Winter Games to a city under the jurisdiction of a government that is not committing mass atrocities; or (B) the Department of State has certified that the Chinese Communist Party has stopped committing acts of genocide and that the perpetrators have accounted for their crimes; and (2) encourages the International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee to develop a framework for reprimanding or disqualifying host cities and the countries in which they are located if their governments are actively committing mass atrocities— (A) during the Olympic and Paralympic bidding process; or (B) between a city’s election as a host city and the duration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games that its government is hosting.