All Reading
This section contains a curated list of useful articles, investigations, books and other reading materials. The list is updated on a weekly basis and suggestions for additions are welcome.
Starting Points:
Baerbock demands forced-labor ban, won’t attend Olympics
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called for an EU-wide import ban on goods made with forced labor — a demand that would particularly hit China. Baerbock also said she won't attend the Beijing Winter Olympics in February. Yet she made clear that her decision was personal and not the official line of the German government, and that German foreign ministers usually don't attend Olympic games.
2-time Olympic snowboarder calls for Team Canada boycott of Beijing 2022
Drew Neilson spent a good portion of his youth screaming down snowy slopes all over the world in pursuit of podiums. But now a decade into retirement, he says he can’t help but speak out about the 2022 Beijing Olympics and the International Olympic Committee’s willingness to partner with China, calling for a full Canadian boycott of the games. “I’m really disgusted. I don’t want to even be called an Olympian anymore,” he said from his home in North Vancouver. “The IOC recognizes … human rights as enshrined in the fundamental principles of the Olympic Charter and the code of ethics, and they say the IOC takes this responsibility very seriously. But do they?”
‘The world must boycott’: Australian Uyghur calls for more pressure on Beijing Games
Almas Nizamidin, whose wife has been sentenced to seven years in prison in Xinjiang, says a diplomatic boycott of the Olympics is not enough. What Almas Nizamidin knows of his wife’s arrest and disappearance is second-hand: the harried reports relayed by his relatives as it rapidly unfolded. She remains incarcerated in Xinjiang Women’s Prison, sentenced to seven years’ jail on “disturbing social order” charges her family says are baseless.
Canada, U.K. and Australia join U.S. in diplomatic boycott of Beijing Olympics
Canada will join the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics over human rights concerns, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday.
IOC says it ‘respects’ US boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said that it respects the United States’ decision to diplomatically boycott the forthcoming Beijing Winter Olympics, while defending its “quiet diplomacy” in handling the case of Chinese tennis player, Peng Shuai. “We always ask for as much respect as possible and least possible interference from the political world,” said Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, the IOC’s coordination commission chief for the Beijing Winter Olympics. “We have to be reciprocal. We respect the political decisions taken by political bodies.”
US diplomats to boycott 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics
The US has announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in China - a move that has been heavily criticised by Beijing. The White House said no official delegation would be sent to the Games because of concerns about China's human rights record. But it said US athletes could attend and would have the government's full support.
2022 Beijing Winter Olympics: China criticises US diplomatic boycott
China has condemned a planned US diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and threatened to retaliate. Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said China would take "resolute counter-measures" but did not give further details.
White House announces US diplomatic boycott of 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing
The Biden administration will not send an official US delegation to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing as a statement against China's "ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang."
Winter Olympics: IOC says China human rights ‘not within’ remit
A senior member of the International Olympic Committee has swatted aside suggestions that China should be challenged over its human rights record before the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.
As global pressure over human rights abuses in Xinjiang picks up, China remains defiant
Diplomatic measures, sanctions, targeting forced labor, calls for investigations and a 2022 Olympics boycott, and other efforts to stop Beijing’s campaign against Uyghurs appear to have little effect. Week after week, lawmakers around the world have continued to put pressure on China over alleged human rights abuses against Uyghurs in an escalating diplomatic conflict, which one expert says has become something of a stalemate.
Olympic committee gave uniform contract to Chinese company with Xinjiang ties
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) gave a uniform contract for the Tokyo 2021 Summer Olympics and the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics to a Chinese textiles company that has an affiliated factory in Xinjiang and that openly advertises its use of Xinjiang cotton.
Airbnb asked to drop Olympic ties over China rights issues
Airbnb Inc. is being asked to drop its sponsorship connections to next year’s Beijing’s Winter Olympics by a coalition of 150 human-rights campaigners. The coalition is headed by groups that oppose rights violations in China including the detention of Muslim Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region.