Human rights groups call for 2022 Olympics to be moved from Beijing, citing Chinese abuse of Uighurs

A coalition of human rights groups sent the International Olympic Committee a letter ahead of the body's Wednesday meeting demanding that it rescind its offer to Beijing to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. Calling the decision a "mistake," the letter pointed to China's "Orwellian surveillance network" used to monitor and harass ethnic minorities in Tibet and to persecute Uighurs, a Muslim minority, most of whom live in Xinjiang province. The letter also cited China's increasing hostility to Hong Kong and Taiwan in a list of alleged abuses that the country has committed since it last hosted the Olympics in 2008. "The IOC must recognise that the Olympic spirit and the reputation of the Olympic Games will suffer further damage if the worsening human rights crisis, across all areas under China’s control, is simply ignored," read the letter, which was signed by more than 160 organizations. In the past year, many prominent groups have spoken out against the Beijing Winter Olympics in reaction to increasingly grave reports of Uighur abuses. In August, the Uighur rights group World Uighur Congress sent a letter to the IOC describing "crimes against humanity" in Xinjiang. The IOC at the time defended its decision, citing promises from Chinese officials that they would respect Olympic regulations on human rights.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a government entity that reports to the State Department, in April recommended that government officials boycott the Winter Olympics after repeatedly finding China to be one of the worst human rights offenders. The report listed China's internment of more than 1 million Uighurs and its destruction of Tibetan monasteries and religious life as its top reasons. “This is absolutely inexcusable, and those nations around the world who ignore China’s malevolence may eventually find themselves subservient to it,” USCIRF Commissioner Johnnie Moore said of China's abuses. “It is past time for our world bodies, and our liberal democracies, to demand more from China.” The IOC in 2008 faced similar protests for its decision to allow Beijing to host the Summer Olympics. The organization at the time defended its decision on the grounds that the Olympics are non-political. The 2022 Winter Olympics are set to be held in February of that year.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/human-rights-groups-call-for-2022-olympics-to-be-moved-from-beijing-citing-chinese-abuse-of-uighurs

US will draw down troops in Iraq from 5,200 to 3,000 this month, CENTCOM confirms

U.S. Central Command’s Marine Corps Gen. Frank McKenzie announced Wednesday that the United States will fulfill a President Trump promise and withdraw about half of the remaining American soldiers in Iraq. The drawdown will still allow the U.S. to help fight the Islamic State, he said. “This reduced footprint allows us to continue advising and assisting our Iraqi partners in rooting out the final remnants of ISIS in Iraq and ensuring its enduring defeat,” McKenzie said in a speech in Iraq with the Iraqi minister of defense in attendance. McKenzie had been praising the development of the 250,000-strong Iraqi security forces for months. “We are continuing to expand on our partner capacity programs that enable Iraqi forces and allow us to reduce our footprint in Iraq,” he added. “The U.S. decision is a clear demonstration of our continued commitment to the ultimate goal, which is an Iraqi security force that is capable of preventing an ISIS resurgence and of securing Iraq’s sovereignty without external assistance.”

A troop reduction announcement had been expected for months as the U.S. and Iraq engaged in status of forces negotiations to determine a future American presence in the country. Today’s announcement reveals the status of those negotiations and a level of confidence in the ISF that McKenzie in June said was “good enough” to quash remaining terrorists in Iraq. McKenzie in August warned that the Islamic State is still present in Syria, where the U.S. retains a small troop presence east of the Euphrates River. In the Russia-controlled west, the top American commander in the region warned recently: “The conditions are as bad or worse than those that spawned the original rise of ISIS.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/us-will-draw-down-troops-in-iraq-from-5-200-to-3-000-this-month-centcom-confirms