‘Naming and shaming’ latest strategy by rights groups seeking boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics

Sponsors, other firms supporting 2022 Games named in attempt to create action over alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong

The IOC says awarding the Olympic Games does not mean the IOC agrees with a host nation’s political structure or human rights standards

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Beijing will host the 2022 Winter Olympics. Calls for a boycott of the 2022 Games on human rights grounds are “doomed to failure”, a Chinese government spokesperson says. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:30am, 22 Mar 2021Updated: 6:30am, 22 Mar 2021

Online room rental company Airbnb and former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon have been put on a “name-and-shame” list as part of a campaign by human rights groups calling for a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in China.

The campaign – which the organisers say is backed by more than 180 groups, including the World Uygur Congress, the US Tibet Committee and the China Democracy Party – targets companies and others supporting the event scheduled for February in and around Beijing.

The groups say China is violating human rights in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong and this runs counter to the ideals of the Olympics, which contains in its charter a goal to promote a peaceful society and to preserve human dignity.

But Thomas Bach, recently elected to another four-year term as president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), responded to the boycott calls on March 12, saying the organisation was not a “super-government” that could solve political issues.

Past attempts to boycott an Olympic Games have had mixed results, yet a growing number of politicians in the European Union, Canada and the United States have started to raise questions about taking part in the upcoming Beijing event.

US Republican Senator and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney is among the latest. He called for a diplomatic boycott by US delegates in a column in The New York Times on March 15.