Without Long-term Legislative Action, Canada Falls Short with Beijing Olympic Boycott
December 8th, 2021
Justice For All Canada thanks Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for announcing a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games. At this time, where Canada still falls short in its humanitarian principles concerning the Uighur Muslim genocide, our nation must take decisive legislative action to end the genocide and demand the immediate release of Uighur Canadian citizen Huseyin Celil.
Canada has long cherished its ambition to become a world leader promoting and protecting global human rights. We are at a crucial stage where Canada can take a decisive stand to uphold our obligations to International human rights.
The Chinese government has been responsible for a series of human rights abuses committed against Uighur Muslims and other ethnic and religious minorities in East Turkestan (Xinjiang). Numerous human rights organizations have provided credible, documented evidence on mass internment camps, forced labour schemes, surveillance and population control tactics against Uighurs, which all constitute a mass genocide.
We thank the Canadian government for joining the US, UK and Australia, in diplomatically boycotting the Beijing Winter Olympics, especially as China continues to commit genocide against Uighur Muslims in the western region of Xinjiang.
However, in addition to its diplomatic boycott, Canada needs to take stronger measures to secure the release of its citizen Huseyin Celil, who was unlawfully arrested by Chinese authorities for his work advocating for Uighur human rights.
Huseyin continues to remain in solitary confinement since his unlawful arrest in 2006.
The Olympic universal values— excellence, friendship and respect—which constitute the foundation’s “better world” concept, cannot ignore the suffering of Indigenous Uighur peoples, who are undergoing an ethnic genocide that is slowly but surely erasing their faith, culture and physical existence on the land hosting the Winter Olympics 2022.
We strongly urge the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) not to hesitate to demonstrate its principles of positive culture and empowerment. “We call on the Olympic Governance of over 3,500 Canadian volunteers to join Justice for All Canada in demanding the safe release of Huseyin Celil from solitary confinement, so that he can be united with his wife and kids in Canada”, said Taha Ghayyur, Executive Director.
“Team Canada, including Canada as a nation, should make an impact by not participating in sporting activities that take place in the Uighur genocide host’s country. As important as sports are to Canadian culture and values, our presence speaks volumes in terms of being complicit with crimes against humanity,” added Ghayyur.
Justice For All Canada hopes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge will continue to demonstrate a more principled stance against the Chinese government’s state-sponsored genocide.
Justice For All Canada thanks Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for announcing a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games. At this time, where Canada still falls short in its humanitarian principles concerning the Uighur Muslim genocide, our nation must take decisive legislative action to end the genocide and demand the immediate release of Uighur Canadian citizen Huseyin Celil.
Canada has long cherished its ambition to become a world leader promoting and protecting global human rights. We are at a crucial stage where Canada can take a decisive stand to uphold our obligations to International human rights.
The Chinese government has been responsible for a series of human rights abuses committed against Uighur Muslims and other ethnic and religious minorities in East Turkestan (Xinjiang). Numerous human rights organizations have provided credible, documented evidence on mass internment camps, forced labour schemes, surveillance and population control tactics against Uighurs, which all constitute a mass genocide.
- The UHRP, in collaboration with Justice for All, tracked the fate of 1,046 Uighur Muslim clerics, who are either missing or arbitrarily detained simply because they practiced their religion.
- Human rights violations have plagued China’s organ transplant industry for decades; Following the growth of China’s internment camp network, Uighurs have increasingly become an at-risk population for forced organ harvesting.
- Facial recognition technology, biometric screenings, social media spyware, and vigilant armed enforcement are military-grade policing tools disproportionately used on Uighurs.
We thank the Canadian government for joining the US, UK and Australia, in diplomatically boycotting the Beijing Winter Olympics, especially as China continues to commit genocide against Uighur Muslims in the western region of Xinjiang.
However, in addition to its diplomatic boycott, Canada needs to take stronger measures to secure the release of its citizen Huseyin Celil, who was unlawfully arrested by Chinese authorities for his work advocating for Uighur human rights.
Huseyin continues to remain in solitary confinement since his unlawful arrest in 2006.
The Olympic universal values— excellence, friendship and respect—which constitute the foundation’s “better world” concept, cannot ignore the suffering of Indigenous Uighur peoples, who are undergoing an ethnic genocide that is slowly but surely erasing their faith, culture and physical existence on the land hosting the Winter Olympics 2022.
We strongly urge the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) not to hesitate to demonstrate its principles of positive culture and empowerment. “We call on the Olympic Governance of over 3,500 Canadian volunteers to join Justice for All Canada in demanding the safe release of Huseyin Celil from solitary confinement, so that he can be united with his wife and kids in Canada”, said Taha Ghayyur, Executive Director.
“Team Canada, including Canada as a nation, should make an impact by not participating in sporting activities that take place in the Uighur genocide host’s country. As important as sports are to Canadian culture and values, our presence speaks volumes in terms of being complicit with crimes against humanity,” added Ghayyur.
Justice For All Canada hopes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge will continue to demonstrate a more principled stance against the Chinese government’s state-sponsored genocide.