IPAC Newsletter 11 June 2021

IPAC LAUNCHES WINTER OLYMPICS ACTION ACROSS 11 PARLIAMENTS
This week IPAC Members announced a series of parliamentary actions addressing the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in light of severe human rights abuses taking place in the Uyghur Region and elsewhere in China. 

In the United States a bipartisan resolution led by Representatives Tom Malinowski and Mike Gallagher called on the International Olympics Committee to initiate an “emergency search process” for replacement venue for the Games. The Czech Senate has passed a motion demanding a diplomatic boycott of the Games, a call also made by parliamentary interventions in the European Parliament and BritishCanadian, German, Danish, Swedish, Swiss and Lithuanian Parliaments.

Read coverage of the campaign in the South China Morning Post and see the IPAC statement and full list of campaign actions on the Beijing Olympics on the IPAC website.  


CALLS FOR ACTION ON UYGHUR FORCED LABOUR AHEAD OF G7 SUMMIT 
IPAC urged G7 leaders to back action on international supply chain transparency in light of widespread forced labour abuses in the Uyghur Region. The letter, signed by the IPAC Co-Chairs for G7 states, also called for democratic states to back an infrastructure development fund to rival China’s Belt and Road Initiative, as covered in Nikkei Asia.   

letter led by Nusrat Ghani MP and signed by 12 cross-party MPs and Peers called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to strengthen the UK’s Modern Slavery Act and ban imports of goods made with Uyghur forced labour. 


UK PARLIAMENT DEBATES HUMAN RIGHTS IN HONG KONG 
IPAC Member Tom Randall MP secured a Westminster Hall debate in the UK Parliament on human rights in Hong Kong. MPs taking part raised the case of Hong Kongers imprisoned under the city’s National Security Law and called for the UK government to implement sanctions on Hong Kong government officials and to reprimand British banks freezing assets belonging to pro-democracy activists. Watch the contributions of IPAC Members to the debate here.  


CZECH PARLIAMENT CONDEMNS PERSECUTION OF FALUN GONG PRACTITIONERS 
 The Czech Parliament has passed a motion calling for the Chinese government to end its persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, referencing abuses including torture and organ harvesting. The motion was backed by IPAC Co-Chair Jan Lipavský MP.