On February 4th, I was invited by the FCCJ (Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan), where I announced “A Joint Statement Condemning the Holding of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics under the Oppression of Human Rights” as a guest speaker of the joint press conference with the ethnic groups that are oppressed by the Chinese government. We chose this date because the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is a year ahead from this day.
YouTube FCCJ (The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan) Official Channel
Protesting against China’s human rights oppression : Obara, Uda,Lee,Jirgal and Ishii
The current human rights situation in China is clearly violating the Olympics Charter, and we can never allow the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics to be held under such circumstances. We appealed that unless there is an improvement of the human rights situation, we should boycott the Olympics.
PDF: Joint Statement Full Text
Following that, in the afternoon, we held a press conference in Tokyo for the Japanese media.
A lot of media in the world reported our events widely, including the English, Taiwanese and the Japanese outlets.
【Articles in English】
REUTERS (UK)
Anti-China activists in Japan call for boycott of Beijing 2022 Games
South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
Beijing 2022 Olympics: activists call for boycott over China’s record on human rights
JAPAN Forward (Japan)
Honor Olympic Values, Boycott Beijing 2022 Olympics Say 180 Human Rights Groups
ARAB NEWS (Saudi Arabia)
Human rights activists in Japan call to boycott 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics
BREITBART (USA)
Human Rights Activists Urge Biden to Join Boycott of 2022 Beijing Olympics
【動画 日本語】
YouTube randomyoko2 Channel
【生放送】#北京五輪 ボイコット 共同記者会見
YouTube 大紀元 エポックタイムズ・ジャパン
北京冬季五輪のボイコット呼びかける
YouTube 大紀元 エポックタイムズ・ジャパン
在日民主活動家、北京五輪ボイコット呼びかけ
YouTube DHCテレビ
【DHC】2021/2/8(月) 田北真樹子×須田慎一郎×居島一平【虎ノ門ニュース】 1:37:00から
【記事 日本語】
テレビ朝日
北京五輪のボイコット呼びかけ 在日ウイグル団体ら
共同通信
中国「五輪精神に反する」と訴え 国際社会に向け人権団体代表ら
時事通信
北京冬季五輪「ボイコットを」 在日の香港民主活動家ら呼び掛け
産経新聞
北京五輪ボイコットを 中国の少数民族迫害で在日チベット人ら会見
東京新聞（共同通信配信記事）
中国「五輪精神に反する」と訴え 国際社会に向け人権団体代表ら
AFP通信 BB News（時事通信配信記事）
北京冬季五輪「ボイコットを」 在日の香港民主活動家ら呼び掛け
EPOCH TIMES
国際戦略家・石井英俊氏、北京冬季五輪のボイコット呼びかける「人権弾圧国家に開催資格なし」
EPOCH TIMES
在日民主活動家、「人権侵害する政権に開催資格ない」北京五輪ボイコット呼びかけ
世界日報
22年冬季 北京五輪ボイコットを、弾圧受ける諸民族が訴え
選報日本
【速報】「北京五輪ボイコットを」人権活動家らが訴え
選報日本
北京2022冬季五輪開催に抗議する共同声明（全文）
選報日本
【詳報】石井英俊氏「日本政府も中国の人権問題に抗議を」
選報日本
【詳報】チベット人「中国には五輪開催の資格なし」
選報日本
【詳報】ウイグル人「悪夢のような事態が起きている」
選報日本
【詳報】モンゴル人「母語禁止は文化的ジェノサイド」
選報日本
【詳報】香港人「中国の人権侵害は世界に拡散する」
選報日本
【詳報】民主派中国人「共産党政府が約束を守ったことはない」
【記事 台湾語】
中央通訊社 CNA
維權人士聚日本東京 籲國際抵制北京冬奧
自由時報
在日維族等人權團體 呼籲全球抵制2022北京冬奧
Full Statement Text:
– A Joint Statement Condemning the Holding of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics under the Oppression of Human Rights –
With one year to go before the start of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, many people are looking forward to the day when the festival for peace and sports will successfully be held, and athletes will fairly and squarely compete with each other for the honor of their home countries or communities.
Regrettably, however, the oppression of human rights, which is far from the Olympic spirit, is going on in the People’s Republic of China, where the Olympics is scheduled to be held in Beijing, the capital of the country.
The Olympic Charter clearly states that the goal of the Olympic Games is to “encourage the establishment of a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity” and “understand each other with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play without discrimination of any kind.”
At the moment, in the People’s Republic of China, millions of Uyghurs are reportedly detained in de facto concentration camps in the name of re-education centers in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. In the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the people are deprived of an opportunity to receive education in the Mongolian language at school. In an area where Tibetans live, as well, the destruction of Buddhist temples and religious oppression continue, as once done during the Cultural Revolution. Besides, in Hong Kong, democratic activists and members of the Legislative Council have unlawfully been arrested one after another, and the “one country, two systems” policy, which was supposed to be an international commitment, has already become a dead letter. No improvement has been made on the oppression of democratic activists and Falun Gong practitioners in China.
We cannot help but regard the holding of the Winter Olympics in China, where these kinds of oppression of human rights continue, as the violation of the spirit of the Olympic Charter. In the past, the Berlin Olympics held in the capital of Germany under the Nazi regime strengthened the legitimacy of the Nazis and was used to hide its autocracy, oppression of human rights, and racial discrimination policy. Moreover, in 2001, the Chinese government made a promise that “the holding of the Olympic Games would improve the human rights situation” in the course of venue selection for the Summer Olympics and invited the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, but the government ignored the promise. On the pretext of maintaining public order, numerous people were oppressed, and the Olympics was used by the Chinese Communist Party to enhance its national prestige under the autocratic system. The world shouldn’t forget these historical lessons.
Previously, when the Moscow Olympics was held in the capital of the Soviet Union, which invaded Afghanistan, many liberal democratic countries boycotted the Olympics to express their protest against the invasion. Recalling this history, we call for the following three points on the Chinese government and the international community to save those who are oppressed by the autocratic regime as well as to protect the spirit of the Olympic Charter.
１，The Chinese government, based on the spirit of the Olympic Charter, must improve the human rights situation in Tibet, Uygur, Southern Mongolia (Inner Mongolia), and Hong Kong, stop the oppression of the democratic activists and Falun Gong practitioners immediately, abolish concentration camps, release political prisoners, and guarantee the freedom of speech, expression, faith, and association.
２，The Chinese government must accept the dispatch of an international investigation team for the confirmation of the improvement in the human rights situation in China as a prerequisite for the international community to work together to allow their athletes to join the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
３，The Japanese government, each government across the world, the international community, and the Olympic Committee in each country must declare that they will boycott the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics unless the human rights situation improves for the realization of freedom, human rights, and self-determination of peoples in China and protect the Olympic spirit.
February 4th, 2021
Kalden Obara, President of Tibetan Community in Japan
Tsering Dorjee, President of Students for a Free Tibet Japan
Kerimu Uda, President of Japan Uyghur Association
William Lee, Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Activist, Member of Stand with HK@JPN
Chimed Jirgal, Vice President of Southern Mongolia Congress
Ou Dai, Vice President of Federation for a Democratic China
Hidetoshi Ishii, Vice President of Free Indo-Pacific Alliance
Kotaro Miura, Critic
Feb 4th, 2021
