China You use the next one Olympic games Winter to “delete” his “terrible” human rights record, warned the director of the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW), urging countries to join a diplomatic boycott. “The Chinese government is clearly trying to use Olympic games Beijing to cover up their appalling repression,” Kenneth Roth told AFP in an interview ahead of the publication of the annual report HRW.

The United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada announced that they would not be sending their political representatives to the inauguration Olympic games winter in China on February 4, alleging human rights abuses by China, among others against the Uyghur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang region (northwest).

director HRW insisted that other countries should also refrain from sending senior officials to Olympic games, to help “expose mass atrocities” in the region, as well as “destroy China’s basic freedoms in Hong Kong.”

He also remembered that HRW he did not ask athletes to boycott the Olympics, but insisted the government could not just “pretend everything is normal”.

“At a minimum, the international community should join the diplomatic boycott of the Olympics,” he added. “At a minimum, the international community should join the diplomatic boycott of the Olympics,” he added.

Asked Thursday about this statement, China’s Foreign Ministry accused the NGO of being “as always full of prejudice” and of “making lies” to “sow discord.”

“Unfortunate words and deeds (of HRW) who try to contain the Olympic goals with prejudice will not achieve their goals,” ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters.

Roth insisted that Olympic sponsors had to take a stand. “Instead of promoting” efforts to cover up these abuses, companies should “focus on what is happening in Xinjiang,” he said.

Activists claim that at least one million Uyghurs and other minorities, mostly Muslims, have been imprisoned in “re-education camps” in Xinjiang. Beijing claims they are vocational training centers aimed at curbing Islamic extremism.

“All companies should do what they can to avoid supporting or legitimizing the suppression of the Chinese government,” Roth said, calling the automaker Tesla’s recent decision to open dealerships in the region showing a “lack of sensitivity.” “All companies should do what they can to avoid supporting or legitimizing the suppression of the Chinese government,” Roth said, calling the automaker Tesla’s recent decision to open dealerships in the region showing a “lack of sensitivity.”

director HRW He said, however, that many countries seemed more determined to criticize China at the United Nations in New York and Geneva.

But he lamented that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who plans to attend the opening of the Games, “remains silent and refuses to speak critically about the Chinese government.”

“This is a huge global failure,” he said.