Federal
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.
Source: Congress.gov ·
1,940 words in original text
Plain English summary not yet available
The full original text is available below. Check back soon as we process this bill.
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 Olym-
pic 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 De-
partment of State relating to the People’s Republic of
China indicates that—
VerDate Sep 11 2014
22:58 Mar 03, 2020
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\SR526.IS
SR526
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
2
•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 cen-
ters’’, which are internment camps designed to erase eth-
nic 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 resi-
dence, 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 cen-
ters, 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 govern-
ments 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 pro-
gram, 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 intern-
ment camps of the region; and
(2) Uyghur individuals who protest hosting ‘‘rel-
atives’’ or refuse to take part in study sessions or other
VerDate Sep 11 2014
22:58 Mar 03, 2020
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\SR526.IS
SR526
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
3
•SRES 526 IS
activities with the officials in their homes are subject to
additional restrictions and may face detention in the in-
ternment 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 indi-
viduals and other minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Au-
tonomous 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 sig-
nificant 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 re-
spect 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, de-
VerDate Sep 11 2014
22:58 Mar 03, 2020
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\SR526.IS
SR526
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
4
•SRES 526 IS
tained to prevent meetings with certain individuals, and
had their visas withheld;
(3) hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners have re-
cently received long prison terms, and many other indi-
viduals were arbitrarily detained in various ‘‘legal edu-
cation’’ facilities, where they were tortured, sometimes fa-
tally, until they abandoned their beliefs;
(4) limitations on due process in the People’s Re-
public of China, including the excessive use of pretrial de-
tention, are rampant, and an extended crackdown on
human rights lawyers has weakened the access of defend-
ants to independent legal counsel; and
(5) individuals attempting to petition the Govern-
ment 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-Execu-
tive 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 Repub-
lic 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;
VerDate Sep 11 2014
22:58 Mar 03, 2020
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\SR526.IS
SR526
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
5
•SRES 526 IS
(B) human rights abuses in the Xinjiang
Uyghur Autonomous Region; and
(C) the protests in Hong Kong against pro-
posed extradition legislation;
(3) Hong Kong authorities, under the influence of
the Government of the People’s Republic of China, vio-
lated 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 censor-
ship 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 Re-
public of China and the Communist Party of China con-
tinue to abuse criminal law and police power to punish
critics and ‘‘maintain stability’’ with the goal of perpet-
uating one-party rule, often targeting human rights advo-
cates, 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 Gov-
ernment of the People’s Republic of China practiced se-
vere cultural and religious repression of minorities, espe-
cially of Uyghur individuals in the Xinjiang Uyghur Au-
tonomous 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;
VerDate Sep 11 2014
22:58 Mar 03, 2020
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\SR526.IS
SR526
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
6
•SRES 526 IS
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 as-
semble, including—
(1) the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and
protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expres-
sion;
(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 au-
tonomy 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 cyber-
VerDate Sep 11 2014
22:58 Mar 03, 2020
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\SR526.IS
SR526
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
7
•SRES 526 IS
security law, which authorizes invasive cyber surveillance
and provides broad authority to restrict and penalize on-
line 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 po-
lice 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 co-
operating with the United Nations human rights mecha-
nisms;
Whereas in January 2020, the editorial board of The Wash-
ington Post questioned whether the People’s Republic of
China should ‘‘be allowed to host the 2022 Winter Olym-
pics in one city while running concentration camps in an-
other’’; and
Whereas the flagrant human rights abuses committed by the
Government of the People’s Republic of China are incon-
sistent with Olympic values: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That—
1
(1) the Senate supports the values of Olympism
2
and the principles of Team USA with respect to the
3
protection of—
4
(A) the rights, safety, and well-being of
5
athletes; and
6
(B) the integrity of sport; and
7
(2) it is the sense of the Senate that, consistent
8
with the principles of the International Olympic
9
VerDate Sep 11 2014
22:58 Mar 03, 2020
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\SR526.IS
SR526
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
8
•SRES 526 IS
Committee, unless the Government of the People’s
1
Republic of China demonstrates significant progress
2
in securing fundamental human rights, including the
3
freedoms of religion, speech, movement, association,
4
and assembly, by January 1, 2021, the International
5
Olympic Committee should rebid the 2022 Winter
6
Olympics to be hosted by a country that recognizes
7
and respects human rights.
8
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014
22:58 Mar 03, 2020
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\SR526.IS
SR526
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
Important: This plain English summary was generated by AI and is provided for informational purposes only.
It is not legal advice. Always consult the official bill text on Congress.gov
or a qualified attorney for legal matters.