Activists say Olympic diplomatic boycotts 'simply not enough,' call for further action against China
ABC News
The Winter Olympics take place in Beijing from Feb. 4-20.
With the open ceremony of the Beijing Olympic games Friday, the movement to boycott the event has been intensifying with a rising number of protests in recent weeks, as seen lately in Indonesia, Taiwan, Germany, Austria, and Belgium.
Citizens protested to denounce Chinese President Xi Jinping and his government's propaganda, labor conditions, its treatment of ethnic and religious minorities, as well as its actions to squash freedom of expression and press, among a long list of issues. However, activists and human rights organizations said diplomatic boycotts can only go so far and that so much more needs to be done to improve conditions in China.
Sophie Richardson, the China director at Human Rights Watch, told ABC News that human rights-related commitments made by the Chinese government in the past have mostly fallen short despite what it's said publicly.
"From greater latitude for journalists, to more open internet access, to at least a little bit of room for Chinese people in China to demonstrate ... it really failed on all those counts," Richard said. And "nobody really imposed any consequences and response to that failure."
