**TL;DR: The 2022 Winter Olympic Games should not be hosted in China next year due to the reported human rights abuses against ethnic minorities. The concept that the Games is an international event that is not ascribed to a specific county’s governmental policy is irrelevant.** The Chinese government’s crimes against humanity should not be condoned but condemned and over 180 organisations agree that the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics should be boycotted. The oppression of the Uighurs (a Muslim minority group in the northwest of China) is executed in the form of detention camps, surveillance, indoctrination, sterilisation and much more. The International Olympic Committee claim that ‘the Games are not Chinese Games, the Games are the IOC Games’ is irrelevant. Sports may be seen as independent, but it is impossible to remove the Olympics from politics due to the inherent relations between countries all over the world. Even though ‘the decision on hosting is not made with a view to signaling approval of a government policy’ it is morally dubious to award a fundamentally corrupt system with the social and financial benefits that come with hosting the Olympics. By allowing the Games to take place the Committee is tacitly accepting and therefore legitimising the atrocities. The Olympics is an exciting and important event for everyone, be it audience or competitors. However, basic human rights are of paramount importance and therefore ‘trump’ all else. The UN Declaration of Human Rights grants the right to life and to liberty, as well as the freedom from torture and freedom of expression and religion. All such necessities are being threatened for the Uighur people and something must be done. Although cancelling China’s chance to host the Games will not end the problem, the hope is that such a sacrifice will give them a serious motive to change. Additionally, reprimanding the Chinese government should come as a necessary action from the IOC when considering the context of China’s 2008 Summer Olympics. Despite promising to improve human rights within their country to secure hosting rights, authorities in the 2008 Games violated basic by censuring, arbitrarily arresting journalists and abusing workers’ rights. Matters only declined after 2008 and despite cries from the Human Rights Watch, China was granted, in 2015, the privilege of this upcoming Olympics. In this way, the International Olympic Committee has failed. This is especially after their implementation, in 2017, that aligned procedures with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. In 2020, the IOC published the report ‘Recommendations for an IOC Human Rights Strategy’ to show the integration of these Guiding Principles, yet still, China’s violations are over-looked. Overall, China should quit whilst they're ahead because (as well as the complications caused by the Covid-19 pandemic) the event has already been branded ‘a genocide Olympics’ bringing disastrous connotations of Germany’s 1936 Nazi Olympics. The Editors. (2021) ‘China: Olympic Committee Fails to Honor Rights Pledge’, *Human Rights Watch*. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/02/03/china-olympic-committee-fails-honor-rights-pledge# Roan, Dan and Capstick, Alex. (2021) ‘Beijing 2022: Human rights groups call for Winter Olympic boycott’, *BBC News*. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-55938034

**The Olympics needs to do more to protect vulnerable people and punish wrongdoings, including China's atrocious human rights abuses** There are many ways in which the Olympic Games, despite the great good they do for morale and opportunity, fail to adequately support people from host nations. The Tokyo 2020 Games have faced enormous backlash and even a [campaign for them to be cancelled](https://www.skysports.com/olympics/news/15234/12306306/tokyo-2020-350000-people-sign-petition-calling-for-olympic-games-to-be-cancelled#:~:text=An%20online%20petition%20with%20more,services%20from%20the%20general%20public.) over coronavirus concerns, and [Rio was one of many hosts to evict working class people from their communities in order to build event facilities](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/19/2016-olympics-rio-de-janeiro-brazil-destruction). China's Winter Olympics will be no exception, with the added humanitarian crisis of the Uyghur population being sent to so-called ['re-education camps'](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-22278037). The 2022 Games should be boycotted, if not given to a new host . Here's why: • China has repeatedly [stopped the reporting of abuse against Uyghur Muslims](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/27/world/asia/xinjiang-china-crackdown.html) • [The European Parliament has already voted to boycott the Games](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/09/eu-votes-diplomats-boycott-china-winter-olympics-human-rights-abuses), giving the campaign further momentum and encouraging other nations to do the same • Athletes should not be expected to culminate their dreams in amongst the turmoil of a humanitarian crisis - it is not something they should have to sacrifice, but they may choose not to compete if China isn't stopped from hosting Personally, I love the Olympics, and think that it is the greatest demonstration of excellence in the world. But sport is never as important as justice. If genocide is not enough to make people take a stand, I don't know what is.

**The world is still too fragile from the pandemic for the 2022 Winter Olympics to be held anywhere.** Worldwide, [vaccination rates](https://fortune.com/2021/07/14/covid-vaccine-tracker-update-worldwide-us-countries-pfizer-moderna-johnson-johnson-numbers-data/) are not where they should be. At the same time, parts of the planet are downplaying the importance of [mask wearing](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01394-0). While there are countries that are running out of hospital space, death tolls remain consistently high, yet receiving the vaccine is at your discretion. On top of the lack of mandates, there are [variants of the virus](https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/07/30/1022867219/cdc-study-provincetown-delta-vaccinated-breakthrough-mask-guidance) making it more contagious, and therefore more dangerous. Encouraging not only international travel, but having masses of people congregate, seems irresponsible regardless of the location. So, this has nothing to do with Chine per se, because where it's held doesn’t matter, it’s the fact that it’s still being held at all. It's a huge risk to take, and reckless considering how many lives have already been [lost to COVID](https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/?utm_campaign=homeAdvegas1?). We’re still in the midst of fighting through the pandemic with no end in sight, and instead of holding events in an attempt to return to some semblance of normal, we need to take better measures to safely adapt.