SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA DURING OLIMPICS

SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA DURING OLIMPICS
By GODFREY OBONYO.
One week before the start of the Beijing Olympics, Olympic athletes, officials and public leaders from participating countries were asked to adopt Chinese human rights defenders persecuted by the Chinese government.
As the Olympics approach, human rights activists in China faced serious risk of abuse. Several activists in Beijing experienced growing harassment and surveillance, while abuse of activists across China is also on the rise, according to Amnesty International.
The International human rights watchdog, called upon China to cease the arbitrary detention, intimidation or harassment of activists and human rights defenders and to release imprisoned ones as the games for humanity approaches. All activists and human rights defenders should also be free to highlight issues of legitimate concern without fear of penalty or harassment, Amnesty international demanded.
The organization called for substantial reforms in four key areas linked to the core Olympic values of “respect for universal fundamental ethical principles” and the preservation of human dignity including Freedom of speech’ arbitrary detention, intimidation or harassment of human rights activists , Internet censorship and complete media freedom and to alt death penalty.
On course of the move international intellectual, spiritual and political leaders published a public appealed, calling on the International Olympic Committee to allow full access to information at Beijing Olympics and on Olympic athletes to express themselves in support of people whose rights were being violated by the Chinese government. The Olimpc watch reported on July 31.

The signatories of the appeal, including writer and former Czech president Václav Havel, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng, European Parliament Vice-President Edward McMillan-Scott, and philosopher André Glucksmann, rejected the notion that peaceful promotion of human rights would constitute political propaganda prohibited by the Olympic Charter.

Pointing to the fact that human rights are a “universal and inalienable topic, enshrined in international human rights”, they argue: “To speak of human rights is not politics; only authoritarian and totalitarian regimes try to make it so. To speak of human rights is a duty.”

The signatories call on the IOC to allow Olympic athletes to be able to “learn about the real situation in China and to point out human rights violations freely whenever and wherever in line with their conscience”. They also call on all Olympians “to use this liberty to support those whose freedoms, even at the time of the Olympics, were denied by the Chinese government”.

The appeal comes as Olympic Watch, a Prague-based human rights organization Chairman Jan Ruml is among the signatories, was addressing national Olympic teams, recommending to each a particular Chinese prisoner of conscience to adopt and take action in their support.
The selection of Beijing for the organization of the 2008 Olympic Games was accompanied by the Chinese government’s pledges of visible progress on their respect for human rights.
We understood these as a condition whose fulfillment the International Olympic Committee would demand. That is how this year’s Olympics could contribute to a greater openness and respect for international standards of human rights and liberties in the host country.
If the words of the Olympic Charter, stating that it is a goal of Olympism to “place sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity”, are to be fulfilled, it is necessary for all Olympians to be able to learn about the real situation in China and to point out human rights violations freely whenever and wherever in line with their conscience. The activists called on the International Olympic Committee to make that possible.