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IOC accused of ignoring human rights for 2022 Beijing Olympics

A coalition representing ethnic minorities in China is again accusing the International Olympic Committee of ignoring widespread human rights abuses as the country prepares to hold the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Rights groups speaking for Tibetans, Uighurs and others representing Hong Kong have sent an open letter to IOC President Thomas Bach and IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., who oversees preparations for the Beijing Games.

Obtained by The Associated Press, the letter says the IOC has “turned a blind eye to the widespread and systematic human rights violations being committed by the Chinese authorities.”

Rights advocates are asking to see evidence — which the IOC says it has received — that China will abide by human rights commitments that it made when it was awarded the games in 2015.