Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., introduced legislation on Thursday to sanction the International Olympic Committee if China captures any athlete, fan, or journalist in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, Fox News reported.
The bill, endorsed by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., stresses repercussions against the committee if any ”gross violations of internationally recognized human rights” occur during the Olympic Games, which begin Friday.
”Brave athletes from around the world are planning to boycott tomorrow’s opening ceremony in protest of the CCP’s ongoing genocide in Xinjiang. But rather than support these athletes’ freedom of expression, the IOC has worked to dissuade them from highlighting the CCP’s gross violations of human rights,” Gallagher told the network, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.
”If any athlete or fan at the Olympics pays a price for exercising their internationally recognized rights, the IOC should be deemed complicit in these crimes,” he added.
The bill cites the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, which specifics ”gross violations of internationally recognized human rights” as prolonged detention without a charge or trial, the disappearance of an individual through abduction or clandestine detention, or inhuman and degrading treatment.”
