WASHIGTON, D.C.– As first reported by Fox News, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) introduced the GENOCIDE GAMES Act, which would impose Global Magnitsky sanctions on IOC officials if athletes, fans, or other participants at the 2022 Winter Olympics are detained, disappeared, or otherwise deprived of their freedom of speech or other internationally recognized human rights by the CCP.
With Olympic athletes expected to boycott the opening ceremony – which the IOC and officials like Speaker Pelosi have actively discouraged – and the potential for athletes to continue protesting throughout the games, this bill uses the leverage of powerful sanctions to ensure the IOC pays a steep price if they fail to protect any participant in the Olympic games.
“Speaker Pelosi is dead wrong,” said Rep. Gallagher. “Athletes have the right to protest the CCP’s ongoing genocide in Xinjiang and the U.S. government has the tools at its disposal to guarantee those rights are protected. As we approach the opening ceremony, the IOC has a choice: will they support their athletes internationally-recognized human rights, or will they support a genocidal communist regime? This bill should make that choice easy by ensuring that the IOC will be considered complicit in any crimes committed against athletes or fans exercising their rights.”
Gallagher continued, “If Speaker Pelosi was seriously concerned about what the CCP would do to our athletes’ ‘reputations’ or ‘their families;, she would bring this bill up for an immediate vote.”
The legislation was also co-sponsered by: Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL), Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), Rep. Daniel Webster (R-FL), Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO), Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX), Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL), Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-OH), Rep. John Rutherford (R-FL), Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA), Rep. Jake LaTurner (R-KS), Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), Rep. David McKinley (R-WV), Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH), Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN), and Rep. Michelle Steele (R-CA).
Click HERE for bill text.
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