Berlin, Jan. 27, (dpa/GNA) – Olympic athletes at the coming Winter Games in Beijing must be able to speak out on the human rights situation in China, Amnesty International has said.
“There cannot be any restrictions here,” Theresa Bergmann, China expert for the organization in Germany, told dpa.
That must also apply to topics the Chinese government considers “sensitive,” she said. “The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is responsible for ensuring this.”
In Amnesty’s view there are “crimes against humanity” in China, Bergmann said. “And in at least three counts, namely with regard to detention, persecution and torture.”
A prominent example is the situation in the north-western Xinjiang region, where Uighurs and Kazakhs are targeted by the Chinese state.
“The main issue is to take away their ethnic and religious identity,” said Bergmann.
At least a million people have been detained there since 2017 without legal justification.
“It is absolutely terrible in the camps,” said Adamczak. “The people often don’t know why they are there.”
Reasons for arrests could be stays or contacts abroad, using Whatsapp, practising Islam or violations of the one-child policy.
Several countries, including the US, Britain and Australia, have announced dipolmatic boycotts of the Games, which run to February 20.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, on the other hand, will travel to Beijing for the opening ceremony on February 4. Russian President Vladimir Putin is also due in the Chinese capital that day.
GNA