The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) is calling on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ensure that the Winter Olympics – set to open in Beijing today (Friday) – do not contribute to oppression and human rights violations in China.

And it’s asking Fórsa members and others to help by signing its petition. 

Awarding the Chinese Communist Party a “gold medal for oppression,” the ITUC has also called on the games’ ruling body to ensure the safety and security of athletes, journalists, staff, spectators and others attending the games.

And it has called on commercial sponsors – including Airbnb, Allianz, Coca-Cola, Intel, Toyota, Visa and others – to review their association with the Beijing winter Olympics and put pressure on the Chinese Communist Party to end policies of repression and allow fundamental rights and freedoms under international rules.

The ITUC has identified “five rings of repression” that are strangling freedom and rights for many millions of people. They include workers’ rights violations, repression in Hong Kong, intimidation of the LGBT+ community, repression of minorities and poor handling of the pandemic.

Earlier this week Yang Yang, who chairs the Beijing Winter Olympics Athletes’ Commission warned competitors that they “need to be responsible” if they decide to speak out about “controversial” issues. Many saw this as a warning to athletes not to publicly criticise China’s human rights record.

Criticism of China’s appalling human rights abuses, including the mass persecution of Uyghurs in western Xinjiang and the assault on Hong Kong’s democratic freedoms, has intensified in the run-up to the games, which some activists are calling the “Genocide Games”.

A number of western countries plan a “diplomatic boycott” of the opening ceremony.

Sign the union petition HERE. 

Read more HERE.