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| Friday, July 13 Updated: July 14, 9:45 PM ET |
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| Activists: Olympics won't help human rights problem Reuters | |||
NEW YORK -- Human rights activists said
Friday the International Olympic Committee's decision to
award Beijing the 2008 Olympic Games was not likely to lead to
any major improvement in human rights in China.
Based on Beijing's track record in hosting other major
international events, human rights abuses were likely to
increase, the activists said, with China strong-arming people
to ensure that Olympics facilities are constructed on time and
forcibly removing the homeless and destitute from public view.
"The selection of the Olympic site is a great honor to the
Chinese people but the government must not dishonor this
opportunity by violating the rights of those citizens," said
Xiao Qing, executive director of Human Rights in China.
China's bid to host the Olympics had been criticized widely
because of the country's human rights record, but Beijing bid
organizers argue that increased economic liberalization in
China will lead to improvements in human rights.
Members of the Olympic committee say holding the games in
China will help curtail abuses by causing the world to focus
more intensively on the question of the country's human rights
record.
But rights activists expressed skepticism and pointed to
the fact that Beijing has hosted other international events
that had little impact on its behavior.
Xiao said China had large-scale round-ups of street
children and destitute people prior to previous international
events.
Other human rights activists noted that China was also
likely to evict thousands of people to build Olympics
facilities while not compensating them for their losses or
giving them due process of law.
"This decision also presents a significant challenge to the
Chinese authority and the international community. The Chinese
government must not repeat its past approach toward hosting
international events," Xiao said.
He said his organization was calling on the IOC to
establish a monitoring mechanism to ensure that China complies
with its international human rights obligations and also was
urging China to live up to its pledge to grant unlimited press
access and freedom in the seven years leading up to the games.
"If Beijing commits human rights violations in the process
of preparing for the Olympics, then the IOC members will be
directly responsible for it and I think the Olympic spirit will
be violated," he said.
Princeton University professor and China expert Perry Link
said China would be aware of the need to handle human rights
issues in a positive manner to maintain good public relations,
but he said there was no compelling reason within the Beijing
government to improve human rights because of the games.
Another leading activists on the China human rights issue,
Sidney Jones, the Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said
that corporate sponsors could play a useful role in promoting
human rights in advance of the games.
She said computer companies should press China to end
controls on Internet content, garment makers should seek
fundamental labor rights and construction and transport
companies should insist upon due process and fair compensation
for the thousand of Chinese who will be forced out of their
homes and businesses during the construction of Olympic sites.
"The burden really falls on the corporate sponsors of the
Olympics and the IOC to ensure that human rights abuses don't
take place in association with the games, and we are very much
afraid that they will," Jones said.
In the short run, the human rights activists said the
decision may help win the release of U.S.-linked Chinese
scholars accused by Beijing of spying.
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