Why Marco Rubio is calling on the IOC to move the 2022 Olympics out of China

It seems like every Olympics host over the last several cycles has some sort of human rights stain. Russia has an appalling record on LGBTQ rights. Brazil displaced poor people to build stadiums. South Korea allowed a global platform to Kim Jong-un.

But a future (and past) host has reportedly taken human rights abuse to a new level.

In Western China, according to a U.S. government report, there is a “mass, arbitrary, internment of as many as 1 million or more Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities in ‘political reeducation’ camps [that] … may be the largest incarceration of an ethnic minority population since World War II.” Ambassador Kellie Currie, U.S. representative to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, reports that authorities have prohibited such religious decisions as the refusal to eat pork and fasting during Ramadan.

The situation is so abhorrent that Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida wants the 2022 Winter Games reassigned out of China.

“How we could award a Winter Games to a country that is systematically jailing people for religious views?” Rubio told Yahoo Sports on Wednesday. “It violates the very spirit of the Olympics.”

Rubio points out it also violates the Olympic Charter and Host City Contract, which requires hosts to “prohibit any form of discrimination” based on religion and ethnicity.

Rubio and Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey co-wrote a letter to the IOC asking the organization to “review and ultimately reassign” the 2022 Games “given credible reporting of the mass, arbitrary internment of one million or more Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities.”

China denies the allegations. A ministry of foreign affairs stated in August that “the policies and measures in Xinjiang are aimed at preserving stability, promoting development and unity, and improving livelihood.”

There were complaints about China’s human rights record in 2008 as well, when Beijing hosted the Summer Games. Back then there were reports of evictions, abuses of construction workers and retaliation for Olympic protests.

“It’s questionable why they were awarded [the Olympics] in the first place,” Rubio said.

In response to Rubio’s call to reassign the 2022 Games, the IOC said in a statement to Yahoo Sports, “The Olympic Charter guarantees basic equal rights for everyone during the Olympic Games. Within our area of responsibility, we stand for the promotion and the respect for human rights.”

Part of the issue facing the Olympic movement overall is a dearth of cities with the interest and the resources to put on such a major international event. There are fewer and fewer bid cities, which is partly why Beijing is hosting the Winter Games so relatively soon after it hosted the Summer Games. The IOC has often looked the other way, shining a light on glitzy displays of peace and unity even if there’s real suffering nearby. On the night of the 2016 Opening Ceremony in Rio, police teargassed a playground full of protesters — and families out for some fresh air.

This, however, seems to be a maelstrom of abuses unlike almost any other. It’s an assault on religious freedom, press freedom and personal freedom.

You may be thinking, “Why haven’t I heard anything about this?” Part of that is because of the constant press attention on President Trump. But another part is China’s ability to close off a large part of its society to the Western World. Despite its modernization, China still very much controls the message it sends out.

One example is Erfan Hezim, a rising soccer star who was reportedly detained in February for “visiting foreign countries” even though he was traveling for his sport. A world players’ union released a statement expressing concern for Hezim but months later, it’s unclear where he is or how he’s doing.

The world’s attention on the Olympics can help. People and even nations that normally pay little mind to China may now have reason to focus on this. In their letter to the IOC, Rubio and Smith suggest that even if the Olympics are not removed, the organization can push for “immediate and unfettered access” to the detainment area so authorities can find out what’s happening there.

Does Rubio think the U.S. should consider a boycott? “Potentially,” he said. “That’s the worst-case outcome; you’re punishing the athletes who are training all of their lives for this. You hate seeing that. But I would prefer they move the Games.”

There is a risk here of China’s retaliation, whether politically, economically, or in the Olympics world. The U.S. will host the Summer Games in 2028.

Rubio isn’t moved by that possibility.

“There’s virtually no price too high to pay to buy the silence of an order of this magnitude,” he said. “Hundreds of thousands of people systematically detained and erased? If that isn’t worth whatever retaliation might happen, I don’t know what is.”

Even if the IOC does nothing, it’s likely that the world’s press will revisit this in the years ahead. China may well host in 2022, but no nation can host without a spotlight that it may not fully welcome.

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