China Urged to Stop Rights Abuse Ahead of 2008 Games
(by Rahul Verma | OneWorld | August 26, 2004)
NEW DELHI, August 26: As the world's most prestigious sporting event comes to a close this weekend, a global human rights group has warned China – the hosts of the next Olympics – to improve "its embarrassing record of continuing human rights abuses" before hosting the 2008 games.
The New York-based group, Human Rights Watch, stresses that China has to make urgent reforms in human rights and labor and press freedom as the Olympic flag is officially handed over from the city of Athens to that of Beijing on Sunday.
"Responsibilities come with the international prestige China receives by hosting the 2008 Olympic Games," says Brad Adams, executive director of the Asia Division of HRW. "An embarrassing record of continuing human rights abuses is no way to welcome the world to Beijing."
HRW also launched a "China Olympics Watch" website Tuesday, which would be monitoring issues of censorship, unlawful evictions and labor right abuses in the Asian country in the run-up to the games.
The group is pressing China to end media and Internet censorship, give workers the right to form independent trade unions and ensure there is no violation of the rights of people evicted from their homes in Beijing to make way for Olympic venues.
"The spotlight that comes with the 2008 Olympics gives China a major opportunity to improve its standing in the international community," Adams emphasizes. "But that will not happen unless China begins to take human rights as seriously as image building," he says.
An Indian organization supporting the rights of the people of Tibet – a region that China controls but which has witnessed widespread anti-China movements – believes the run-up to the games should also act as a reminder of the plight of the Tibetan community.
"This is also the time to highlight the fact that the Tibetan struggle is the only peaceful struggle in the world," says Aspi Mistry, spokesperson of Friends of Tibet. "And it is peaceful not because of strategic reasons, but because of the fundamental principles of the philosophy of the Tibetan people," Mumbai-based Mistry says.
HRW believes the International Olympic Committee should press for free expression while business sponsors of the Olympic games should pressure China to improve its track record on labor rights.
Working conditions, HRW stresses, are poor in China. Wages are low and there are no health or safety protections. Under the Chinese law, workers cannot form independent unions.
"Businesses that sponsor the Olympics benefit by being linked with the prestigious international event," says HRW. "But in China, Olympics investment is tainted by the restrictions," it holds.
China's restrictions on the media will be highlighted, HRW points out, when "tens of thousands of domestic and international journalists" arrive in Beijing for the games in another four years.
"They will face pervasive state censorship and the reality of closed-down Internet sites and jailed editors, journalists, and web activists," says HRW. "Many will learn for the first time of growing numbers of Chinese web users who risk arrest by emailing censored news and exchanging ideas."
The rights group gives the August 7 example of a police attack on a crowd protesting the outcome of the Asian Cup soccer final in Beijing to highlight the state of the media.
Two journalists – photographers of the international wire services, the Associated Press (AP) of the United States and Agence France-Presse of France – were manhandled by the police. The AP photographer's camera equipment was destroyed.
HRW stresses that the International Olympics Committee (IOC) should press for free expression for visiting foreign journalists as well as for Chinese citizens.
"Allowing reporters to do their work without interference will be central to the success of Beijing's games," says Adams. "The IOC should also be prepared to respect its own Charter and ensure full news coverage."
Reports from Beijing indicate that as the city prepares for the games, a large number of people are being forcibly evicted from their homes to make way for city development projects.
HRW points out that the evicted people have no legal rights, and are subjected to police repression when they take to the streets to protest their ouster.
"The Chinese leadership must see to it that peaceful protester' rights are respected and attended to in a timely fashion," says HRW.
The organization warns that China's track record of human rights abuse will be out in the open during the games.
"The world will be watching to see whether China is able to open up and allow its citizens basic freedoms," Adam points out. "Otherwise, the games could well showcase repression in China instead of progress."
Human Right activists were horrified by the death of a 27-year-old social activist, Sun Zhigang, who was fatally beaten while in police custody in April, 2003.
Sun was kept by the police in a migrant detention center after he went to Guangzhou in search of a job as a fashion designer. He was picked up because he required a special "temporary residence permit" to look for employment outside his home-town.
The incident kicked up a furor in China, HRW says, sparking an intense Internet campaign. HRW points out that the forcible eviction of the people of Beijing from their homes has also triggered demonstrations on the streets and a protest through the Internet.
In March this year, Chinese local authorities and developers evicted hundreds of thousands of homeowners and tenants in Beijing.
"Victims are sometimes evicted by hired thugs or have their homes knocked over by bulldozers while they are asleep in bed," says Sara Davis, a China researcher at the Asia Division of HRW.
"Instead of enforcing existing laws, local officials do little to stop illegal practices and in fact often benefit financially from close association with the developers," Davis said in a press statement issued after the evictions.
Friends of Tibet (INDIA),
PO Box 16674, Bombay 400050
www.friendsoftibet.org