[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 812 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 812

 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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    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
    Resolved, 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.
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