Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, and
Congressional-Executive Commission on China
Hearing
on
China, Genocide and the Olympics
May 18, 2021- 1:00 p.m.
Virtual, via WebEx
Statement of Reggie Littlejohn
Founder and President
Women’s Rights Without Frontiers
China’s Genocide in Xinjiang / East Turkistan Must be Punished Under the Genocide Convention of 1948; The 2022 Olympics in Beijing Must Be Moved or Boycotted
"In January [2021], the world marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this annual day of commemoration, the United Nations urged every country to honor the six million Jewish victims of Nazi genocide by developing programs to prevent future genocides. In a UN ceremony, American and European leaders joined Holocaust survivors in conveying the urgent responsibility to remember the Holocaust by defending the truth – now more than ever. For the last 76 years, we have committed to “never again” permit genocide to happen on our watch.
"But it’s happening – right now."
With these words Ellie Cohanim (Deputy Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism at the United States Department of State) and Keith Krach (former Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment) open their opinion piece, published in Newsweek, entitled, “The Chinese Communist Party is Committing Genocide. Now. You can Stop It.”[1]
The reference to the Holocaust is apt, especially considering that in 1936, the Olympic Games were held in Berlin, Germany. Predictably, they proved to be an enormous propaganda windfall for Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich, affording it unwarranted international prestige, legitimacy and credibility. Arguably, these benefits served as a smokescreen for the horrific crimes against humanity that the Nazi regime subsequently unleashed in its genocidal Holocaust against six million Jews and in the course of the world war Hitler precipitated.
Today, we are confronting another totalitarian regime actively engaging in another genocide. We must not make the mistake again of allowing a genocidal regime to glory in hosting the world’s most prestigious international event. Indeed, as a signatory of the Genocide Convention of 1948, the United States cannot allow this to happen.
The Chinese Communist Party (“CCP”) Is Committing Genocide Against Ethnic Minorities in Xinjiang
On his last full day in office, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo issued an official determination that the Chinese Communist Party “has committed crimes against humanity against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs . . .” as well as “genocide.”
Former Sec. Pompeo’s Statement sets forth the CCP’s crimes against the Uyghurs, including widespread arbitrary imprisonment, forced abortion, forced sterilization, forced labor, draconian restrictions on freedom of religion, and torture. He concludes, “. . . we are witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy Uyghurs by the Chinese party-state.”[2]
