At the end of last week, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., sent a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel urging her to join efforts to move the 2022 Olympic Games out of Communist China and to a nation that respects human rights.
Scott has made similar requests of President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and French President Emmanuel Macron. Also last week, Scott called for Biden to lead international efforts to relocate the 2022 Olympic Games to the United States.
Scott’s letter is below.
Dear Chancellor Merkel:
I was glad to see Germany, as a part of the European Union, join Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom last month in sanctioning Chinese officials in Xinjiang for their horrific human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims. This action is especially important after your Federal Ministry of the Interior exposed Communist China’s efforts to intimidate and harass Hong Kongers living in Germany. In the midst of human rights atrocities across Communist China, we must all stand up to General Secretary Xi and I strongly encourage Germany to take further action and join the U.S. and the Canadian House of Commons in designating what is happening to the Uyghurs in Communist China as genocide.
I also encourage you to join me in calling on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to move the 2022 Olympics Games out of Beijing. Governments and international organizations have the ability and responsibility to address human rights concerns, and calling on the IOC to move the 2022 Olympics Games out of Beijing is the right course of action. To be clear, I do not support a boycott. Boycotting these games will only hurt athletes who have spent their lives training to represent their country on the international stage. Instead, it should be the position of all democratic nations that the IOC can and should move the 2022 Games to a nation that respects human rights.
I have introduced legislation in the United States Senate calling on the IOC to move the 2022 Games out of Beijing unless Communist China demonstrates significant progress in securing and protecting fundamental human rights. I have requested a meeting with President Biden to discuss the importance of his support on this critical issue, and asked Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and President Macron to advocate for this as well. Today, I am asking that you join me, the Canadian House of Commons and a number of global human rights organizations in this effort by urging the IOC to take immediate action.
The Olympic Games give the world’s best athletes a chance to represent their countries and unite our nations. However, this cannot be achieved if we ignore the grotesque abuses of Communist China and allow the games to be hosted in Beijing, putting the safety of all athletes and attendees at risk.
Working together, we can seize this opportunity to highlight our shared belief in freedom and democracy, while preserving the marvel that is and must always be so perfectly captured by the unity created by the Olympic Games.
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