Lisa Nandy – 2021 Comments on Boycott of 2022 Winter Olympics

The comments made by Lisa Nandy, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, on 15 July 2021.

Today’s landmark decision by Parliament to back a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics sends a clear message that appalling human rights abuses must have consequences.

By refusing to back today’s motion, this Government is sleepwalking into a situation where members of government and the Royal Family will participate in a PR coup for the Chinese authorities while genocide is committed against the Uyghur. Global Britain must stand for more than this.

With a global audience of billions, the Beijing Olympics must be the moment we show the world that we will not look away. The Government must use this moment to call time on one of the world’s most appalling human rights atrocities. We cannot turn a blind eye to genocide.