The 29th Olympic Games will be held in Beijing, China just over a year from now. Ever since the announcement was made that Beijing would host the Summer Olympics, human rights advocates and organizations around the globe have worked tirelessly to demonstrate why Beijing is not an appropriate host city for the Olympic Games. The regime in Beijing has consistently acted against the core principles of the Olympic spirit, such as peace, friendship, solidarity and mutual understanding. In fact, the Beijing government has frequently used fear and violence to subjugate its citizens. The authoritarian regime of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) continues to persecute, jail and torture its critics, and it tramples upon the human rights of both individuals and entire ethnic and religious groups. The Uyghur people of East Turkistan (also known as Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region) have been among those most victimized by the human rights abuses carried out by the PRC.
Since the International Olympic Committee’s announcement of Beijing as the 2008 Olympics host city, the human rights situation in China has deteriorated. The persecution of Uyghurs that intensified after the terrible attacks of September 11, 2001 has continued to worsen. The PRC government has recently displayed its continued lack of adherence to international human rights norms by arresting and sentencing the children of prominent Uyghur human rights leader Rebiya Kadeer. It also defied Canada’s pleas for access to Canadian citizen Huseyin Celil, himself a Uyghur, and sentenced him to life in prison. Earlier this year, Uyghur political prisoner Ismail Semed was executed in East Turkistan without having had access to a fair trial or adequate legal counsel.
In addition to the arbitrary detention and execution of Uyghurs, the PRC government has enacted a systematic assimilationist policy toward the Uyghurs, Tibetans and other ethnic and religious groups. The language, religion, culture, and traditions of these groups now face the threat of becoming extinct. Uyghur children are forbidden to speak their own languages, while Beijing touts the “successes” of its “bilingual education” program. Uyghur government workers and children are forbidden from observing their religious practices, despite official proclamations of religious freedom. Young women and men are being trafficked eastward to work in slave-like conditions in the name of economic opportunity, while thousands of Han Chinese arrive in East Turkestan daily to take up jobs created for them by the “Go West” Development Plan.
Next year in August, the eyes of billions of people will be focused on the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. People around the globe will be watching the competition and achievements of athletes from different parts of the world. However, they will not be able to see the agony and suffering of the Uyghur people in East Turkistan. The international press will not be able to report freely from East Turkistan and Tibet. Foreign journalists will not be permitted to freely visit these regions, interview local people, and report on the human rights violations taking place there.
The essence of the Olympic Games is the manifestation of freedom, justice, opportunity, and equality for every human being. The international community as a whole, in addition to the sports community, has a moral responsibility to promote the ideals of the Olympic spirit. The Uyghur American Association (UAA) strongly urges all nations sending athletic teams to the 2008 Beijing Olympics to pressure the Chinese government to act in accordance with the Olympic spirit by respecting international human rights norms and principles before the Olympics take place. Our appeal represents the suffering people living in East Turkistan, Tibet and other regions of the PRC whose voices are being silenced by PRC authorities. The international community’s support is greatly needed at this historic moment, in order to ease the oppression of millions of these people.
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