Campaign for Uyghurs Encourages Action on Beijing Olympics

  • January 18, 2022

CFU Press Release
For Immediate Release
January 17th, 4PM EST
Contact: contact@campaignforuyghurs.org
www.campaignforuyghurs.org

With a little over weeks until the beginning of the Beijing Olympics, it has become clear that the games will occur in China. It has become more important than ever to make sure that the brands that willingly sponsor these games are called out and held accountable for their complicity in this genocide.

Executive Director of CFU Rushan Abbas said “It has become unavoidably apparent that the Uyghur genocide in China is the eminent crisis of this moment. The decision by the IOC to press forward with the Olympic Gamesin Beijing represents a callous disregard not only for the rights of Uyghurs, but for human rights all over the world. Though they have decided to be complicit in genocide, sponsors of the games still have time to stand on the correct side of history. Athletes also have this choice, and I urge everyone to search their hearts for what is most important. Is it these games? Or humanity?”

The Peace Project continues to organize on the issue, and wrote recently that “This January, we are launching an influencer marketing campaign and coordinating a posting campaign with 40 human rights organizations to target the Olympics Sponsors: Coca-Cola, AirBnB, as well as Procter and Gamble.” The Peace Project and Jewish World Watch, together with Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU), have launched petitions calling for sponsors of the games to withhold their sponsorship, rather than become complicit in the ongoing Uyghur genocide.

Turnisa Matsidik-Qira, Deputy Director of CFU has been organizing weekly protests against the Beijing Olympics since October 18, 2020. Today she said: “I ​am protesting alone or with my family weekly, and sometimes daily for more than a year now, calling on the International community not to allow China to use the 2022 Olympics to “sportswash” ​their genocidal ​crimes against humanity​. I shall continue to ask the world to act with humanity and boycott the Olympics”.

As part of an ongoing advocacy effort, CFU has also encouraged athletes to speak out in defense of the Uyghur people, and withhold their talents from these games. Their platform is invaluable, and it must be used at this moment to defend Uyghur rights, and human rights around the world. With the games happening in such a short time, there can be no delay in deciding which side of history each person will find themselves on. CFU encourages all people to sign the petition, demand corporate accountability, and refuse to watch these genocide games.

Even with the growing international attention on the Uyghur genocide from governments and human rights organizations, businesses continue to flout their indifference. Just today, the CEO of Social Capital and owner of the Golden State Warriors Chamath Palihapitiya claimed he did not care about the Uyghur genocide. This kind of attitude only serves to allow authoritarian regimes to continue their abuses and in China’s case, to continue a genocide, without accountability. History is calling on all of us today to act. Let us answer that call by boycotting these games, whether it be by withholding competition, sponsorship, or viewership, on February 4th, 2022!
Go to berlinbeijingolympics.com/action to sign the petition!
Picture of Jacob

Sabrina

Campaign for Uyghurs

We defend the human rights of Uyghur people and the free world by exposing and confronting the Chinese government's genocide, and empowering Uyghur women and youth in the diaspora.

Donate Now

READ MORE

Forced Labor, Coercive Land-Use Transfers, and Forced Assimilation in Xinjiang’s Agricultural Production
Located in the northwest of China, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region boasts long hours of sunshine and ample water for irrigation — making the region geographically ideal for growing cotton. Cotton grown in Xinjiang, which has good coloration and long fiber, is favored in both domestic and foreign markets.
‘This Has Been Delayed For Too Long’
Source: RFA Rushan Abbas, a former broadcaster for RFA’s Uyghur Service and the director of the U.S.-based Campaign for Uighurs exile group, recently testified at the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in Washington about rights violations in northwest China’s
Uyghurs in Exile Launch Campaign Calling on China to Release Video of Missing Family Members
Source: RFA More than a dozen ethnic Uyghurs living in exile have called on China to release video of family members held in political “re-education camps” in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) after Chinese state media published what it
Tough Curbs on Burials
Source: RFA HONG KONG—Ethnic minority Uyghurs from the far-west Chinese city of Urumqi say authorities attach strict conditions when they release the bodies of Uyghurs who die in custody. Hundreds of Uyghurs were detained as part of a broad crackdown
I’ve fought China’s slow-motion genocide of Uighur Muslims. Now, my family are victims.
Source: USA Today   The world is finally waking up to the ongoing and terrifying violations of human rights against the Uighurs — a Muslim minority in Northwest China. My own family is victim to these violations. As both an American citizen and
Remarks by Ambassador Sam Brownback at Taipei Religious Freedom Conference
Remarks by Ambassador Sam Brownback at Taipei Religious Freedom Conference March 11, 2019 I would like to thank President Tsai’s comments and her for taking the time to be here out of her busy schedule. I can’t help but just
On Capitol Hill, persecuted Muslims unite to protect religious minorities’ rights
(RNS) — More than 125 members of the minority Ahmadi Muslim sect spent Monday (April 1) on Capitol Hill advocating for international religious freedom causes — particularly lending their voices on behalf of beleaguered Uighur Muslims. As part of its
As Countries Seek Trade With China, Imprisoned Uyghur Community Has Become “Collateral Damage”
China’s top trade negotiator is traveling to Washington this week as tension over trade intensifies between the two nations. President Trump is threatening to impose a 25 percent tariff on nearly all Chinese imports after the U.S. accused China of

STAY
INFORMED

Add your name to our mailing list so we can keep you updated about upcoming events, speciality drives, new initiatives and more.