BEIJING, 5 February, 2021 (TON): Criticism on the decision to host 2022’s Winter Games in China got rejected by a senior member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

More than 180 organizations called on governments to boycott Beijing 2022 because of reported human rights abuses against ethnic minorities.

The event was described by the World Uyghur Congress as a Genocide Olympics.

The treatment of China toward its own citizens has been the criticized across the world.

The longest serving member of the IOC, Dick Pound of Canada said barring athletes from participating in the event would be a gesture that we know will have no impact whatsoever.

"The Games are not Chinese Games, the Games are the IOC Games," he the media. "The decision on hosting is not made with a view to signaling approval of a government policy”, he added.

A joint open letter has been issued by the groups representing Tibetans, Uighurs,  Hong Kong residents and the coalition of campaigners, for the boycott of the games ensuring they are not used to embolden the Chinese government's appalling rights abuses and crackdowns on dissent.

According to the Human Rights groups, the Chinese government has gradually removed the religious and other freedoms of the Uighurs, living in the province of Xinjiang in the northwestern China in the oppressive system of mass surveillance, detention, indoctrination, and even forced sterilization.

China consistently denied allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang, insisting camps were not detention camps, but "vocational educational and training centers".

"It is unfortunate that history is repeating what happened 82 years ago with the Nazi Olympics in 1936" said Dorjee Tseten of Students for a Free Tibet, one of the groups that signed the letter.

"Hosting the Games in Berlin helped legitimize Hitler's genocide against the Jewish people and bolstered the Nazi regime. Governments and the international community must boycott the Beijing 2022 Games and take a stand to uphold the values of democracy, freedom, and human rights."

The critics proposed Beijing 2022 will put competitors in a difficult position.