Olympic promises 'broken by China'
Tuesday, 29 Jul 2008 16:46
China accused of failing to keep human rights promises it made when it was awarded Olympics seven years ago
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China has failed to keep promises it made when it was awarded the Olympics seven years ago, it was claimed on Tuesday.
With ten days to go until the Beijing Games begins a report said human rights in China had continued to worsen since 2001.
Amnesty International UK, which released today's report, said Chinese authorities had used the advent of the Games to 'clean' up the streets of Beijing of activists through re-education labour camps and drug rehabilitation programmes.
Tim Hancock, campaigns director at Amnesty International UK, said China had "betrayed" the core values of the Olympics.
"They told the world that the Olympics would help bring human rights to China, but the government continues to persecute and punish those who speak out for human rights ahead of the Games," he said.
Amnesty International UK wants China to re-evaluate four areas of its human rights policies: The persecution of human rights activists, detention without trial, censorship and the death penalty.
"They must release all imprisoned peaceful activists, allow foreign and national journalists to report freely and make further progress towards the elimination of the death penalty – or risk permanently sullying the legacy of the Olympics," Mr Hancock added.
According to the human rights campaign group, local promises that journalists would be given free rein during the Games have been ignored.
It quotes Beijing Olympic bid chief Wang Wei as saying in 2001: "We will give the media complete freedom to report when they come to China... We are confident that the Games coming to China not only promote our economy but also enhances all social conditions, including education, health and human rights."
Mr Hancock wants world leaders attending the Games to send an "unequivocal message" that they support human rights for Chinese people.
"They should highlight the cases of individual Chinese human rights activists who have been silenced by the authorities," he said.
"A failure to do so will give the impression that it is acceptable for a government to host the Olympic Games in an atmosphere of repression and persecution."
Amnesty International UK has released its latest viral video - False Start -
highlighting human rights abuses in China ahead of the Beijing Games.