BEIJING OLYMPICS BASICS
Should China be hosting the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing?
Human Rights Watch believes that the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing give the Chinese government a unique opportunity to demonstrate to its people and the world a commitment to the fundamental freedoms guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in China’s own constitution. Human Rights Watch hopes the international spotlight and sustained international pressure can move Chinese leaders to remove obstacles to the full enjoyment of those rights for 1.3 billion citizens. Failure by the government to guarantee freedom of movement, thought, conscience, religion, assembly, association and access to information would be unworthy of an Olympic host.
While there are no agreed standards for judging whether a country should host the Olympics, there are expectations of compliance with human rights norms found in the Olympic Charter, recent history, and from the Chinese government itself. First, the Olympic Charter expressly states that “the goal of Olympism is 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.” Second, past Games serve as historical precedents for promoting human rights, including the1988 Games in South Korea, which were a catalyst for that country’s peaceful political transition from a military dictatorship. Finally, in order to secure the Games, the Chinese government made pledges to improve human rights as part of their case to be awarded the Games, including an explicit commitment to uphold press freedom.
With just a few months remaining until the opening ceremonies, the Chinese government should be held accountable for its pledges, and should be prepared to institute major reforms to guarantee basic rights to its people. Human Rights Watch’s approach has been to monitor China’s compliance with its own pledges regarding human rights, and concentrate on durable, institutionalized human rights reforms that could last beyond the end of the Games in August. Thus far, Beijing’s compliance with its own promises and international expectations has been abysmal . The crackdown following recent protests in Tibetan areas are a cause for great concern.
What about calls for a boycott of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing?
This is a point on which reasonable people can disagree. One could argue that the Chinese government’s deplorable human rights record should disqualify it from hosting the Olympics or other major international events. But on balance, and taking into account the strong desire of most Chinese people to host the Games, we believe that it is better to use this opportunity to pressure the Chinese government to improve human rights and the rule of law. The Olympics are putting an unprecedented spotlight on China and its rights record, and China’s hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing provides human rights defenders, both inside and outside China, leverage for capturing the attention of the Chinese government and the national and international press.
Although Human Rights Watch does not advocate of the boycott of the Beijing Olympics, we believe the strategy of leaders like French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who on March 25 evoked the possibility of declining to attend the opening ceremony if human rights in China do not improve, is an effective means of leverage. Doing so weakens the Chinese government’s ability to claim that broad participation by world leaders can be equated with support for its policies. On March 7, Liu Guijin, China’s Special Representative for Darfur, stated that, “You must have heard Mr. Bush saying on many occasions that he himself and his family members will come to Beijing to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games… More and more spokesmen and public figures have decided that politicization of the Olympic Games is not compatible with the Olympic spirit and that the Darfur question has no connection to the Olympic Games.”
Is there a possible downside to Beijing’s hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games?
Yes, there are several potential downsides. First, given the extraordinary importance the Chinese government attaches to the Games, and its commensurate ability to substitute propaganda for information, it is likely that the government will block negative or embarrassing coverage as it has done with respect to the protests in Tibet, opting to show only footage of Tibetans attacking ethnic Han Chinese people and property, but not of peaceful Tibetan protestors being violently dispersed by Chinese security forces. In preparing for the thousands of journalists who will be in Beijing before, during, and after the Games, the Chinese government has made it even more difficult for its citizens to send and receive information, and for the local and international press to cover events in China, including pressing rights issues. On March 20, for example, the Chinese government announced that might bar live television broadcasts from Tiananmen Square during the Beijing Games.
It is also possible that the media and international community will simply not pay sufficient attention to human rights or the hundreds of millions of people who have not always benefited from the country’s improved economy.
Additionally, in the process of building Olympic venues, providing an upgraded infrastructure, and beautifying Beijing, many migrant laborers have had their rights denied, as have city residents and migrant school children who find themselves in the way of the city’s makeover.
What freedom of information issues are raised by China’s hosting of the Games?
The Chinese government is failing to enforce its explicit commitment to the International Olympic Committee to ease restrictions on the operation of foreign journalists in China ahead of the 2008 Beijing Games. “Certainly we will give the media complete freedom to report on anything when they come to China” Despite temporary regulations granting them expanded reporting freedom from January 1, 2007 to October 17, 2008, and promises made by Chinese officials including Wang Wei, foreign correspondents have told Human Rights Watch that government and police officials and plainclothes thugs use harassment, detention, and intimidation to impede their reporting.
Since March 10, unprecedented demonstrations have taken place in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, at least three Chinese provinces, and Beijing. Chinese security forces responded by dispersing the protests, in some cases violently. Foreign journalists were expelled from these areas shortly after the demonstrations began, and lines of communication of have been cut or heavily restricted. On March 27, the Chinese government organized a tour of Lhasa for selected journalists, but as reported by the Associated Press this was a “carefully orchestrated visit” which turned into “an embarrassment for China” when it was disrupted by Buddhist monks denouncing the lack of religious freedom.
Furthermore, Chinese journalists are discriminated against; they remain under tight official controls that limit what they can report and subject them to jail or other serious legal repercussions if their reporting goes beyond government limits. Difficulties exercising the right to free expression are not limited to the pre-Olympic period in China. For example, Reporters Without Borders reports that the Chinese government jails more reporters than any other country and censorship remains rife. The Chinese government’s “Great Firewall” effectively blocks Chinese citizens from accessing many news sources coming from outside the country. Blogs and chat rooms are monitored and closed.
And the value of this unprecedented influx of journalists and analysts will be considerably diminished if they are prevented from communicating with Chinese people and writing about their experiences. Human Rights Watch calls for the Chinese government to grant permanent reporting freedoms to foreign and local journalists alike and end controls on its citizens in violation of international law on access to information.
How are Beijing residents and migrant laborers and their children affected by Olympic preparations?
Human Rights Watch research has documented how China’s rapid urban development, fueled in Beijing by preparations for the 2008 Olympics, is leading to the eviction of homeowners and tenants in violation of Chinese law and international standards on the right to housing.
The construction of facilities for the Olympics in Beijing has directly resulted in the forced eviction of thousands of citizens in and around Beijing, often without due process or compensation to ensure access to new housing.
In a December 2007 report, the Center on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) estimated that as many as 1.5 million Beijing residents will be forced from their homes in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games. COHRE reported that more than 1.2 million people have already been uprooted in Beijing as a result of infrastructure projects linked to the summer Games. The Geneva-based organization estimates that 15,000 people are evicted every month in Beijing, often in poor neighborhoods, in a brutal and arbitrary manner with inadequate compensation. The pre-Olympic “clean-up” of Beijing also has forced the closure of dozens of schools for children of migrant laborers, threatening to leave tens of thousands of children without access to education, a violation of the Chinese government’s obligations under international law. In mid-September 2006, Beijing municipal officials suggested expelling up to one million migrant workers before the opening of Games. Beijing as well as other major cities regularly engage in “clean up” operations before international events or important domestic events, rounding up petitioners, protesters, beggars and undocumented migrant workers. Human Rights Watch is calling on the Chinese government to cease forcible evictions, provide due process in eviction cases, fairly compensate those individuals and families who have already been moved, and make a commitment to ending the pre-Olympic “clean-up” of residents including migrant workers and their children.
Have migrant workers helping construct the “New Beijing” had their rights protected?
Generally, no. Human Rights Watch is concerned about evidence that suggests the rights of many of the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers employed on construction sites across China are being violated. Many migrant workers on construction projects in Beijing are routinely unpaid for the work they do, don’t receive legally-mandated benefits including labor insurance and days off, are often compelled to do dangerous work without adequate safeguards, and are subject to instant dismissal for challenging the denial of their legally-guaranteed rights. Human Rights Watch urges the Chinese government to fully enforce its domestic and international labor rights obligations to ensure that migrant workers employed in the massive Beijing construction campaign that’s transforming Beijing’s skyline ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games are not cheated or put in harm’s way by employers who fail to respect their rights. Human Rights Watch is also urging all Olympic sponsors and partners to ensure that their China operations do not abuse workers in these ways.
What are other rights abuses in China?
Authorities continue to greet rising social unrest – marked at times by violent confrontation between protesters and police – with strict controls on the press, the internet, academics, lawyers, and nongovernmental organizations.
The Chinese government also violates the fundamental rights of its citizens through widespread use of the death penalty, restrictions on freedom of expression and religion and widespread violations of labor rights. Strict internet and media censorship is enforced by government agencies and the largest internet police in the world. In Tibet, expressions of support for the exiled Dalai Lama and suspicion of “separatist” activities routinely result in the imprisonment of Tibetans, many of them Buddhist monks and nuns. In March 2008, the Chinese government’s harsh crackdown on protests in the Tibetan Autonomous Region met with worldwide condemnation and renewed calls for a boycott of the Beijing Games. The Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang province is also subject to severe violations of basic human rights through official policies aimed at eradicating alleged terrorism, separatism and religious extremism. Chinese authorities continue to harass activists and grassroots organizations working to address the country’s widening HIV/AIDS epidemic. In mid-November 2007, five Uighurs were sentenced to death for allegedly “conducting separatist activities.” On March 23-24, 2008, in the wake of unrest in Tibet, Uighurs held anti-government protests in Hutan, in Xinjiang province. Radio Free Asia reported that the demonstrations were peaceful, yet that hundreds of Uighurs were arrested.
Is the human rights situation getting worse or better in China?
The Chinese government continues to claim that its human rights record improves every year as it lifts more people out of poverty. Yet Human Rights Watch research has documented a continued deterioration of human rights conditions in China over the past year. That trend has dashed hopes that the “fourth generation” of Chinese Communist Party leadership of Chairman Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao would be more progressive on human rights issues than their predecessors. While China’s economy has boomed over the past decade due to a steady reduction in state control in the country’s economic and financial sector, which has in turn enabled a greater degree of personal freedoms, the Chinese government has actively stifled efforts by nascent civil society organizations and grassroots activists to press for expanded human rights and freedoms guaranteed by international agreements and China’s own constitution. Dissidents remain locked up in prison or locked-down under house arrest while the Chinese government’s pervasive, multi-layer state security apparatus, backed by increasingly sophisticated technological expertise, prevents the majority of citizens from effectively organizing to demand basic human rights and freedoms.
The rollback in greater acceptance and enforcement of basic human rights and freedoms in China while carefully-calibrated economic freedoms gradually expand is the focus of increasing concern among foreign governments. They have spent considerable time and effort on human rights “dialogues” with the Chinese government that have failed to show any significant success.
How does the Chinese government control its citizens?
Chinese authorities use a vast police and state security apparatus to enforce multiple layers of controls on critics, protesters, and civil society activists. The Public Security Bureau, responsible ostensibly for policing and security, in the name of “public order” arbitrarily silences critics and members of civil society through an array of measures, including house arrest, which does not require formal legal proceedings to implement and maintain. Such controls make actual arrests – which draw unwanted international attention – less necessary and therefore less visible. Victims of this insidious practice of gagging critics include Hu Jia and Zeng Jinyan, a husband-and-wife team of human rights activists who have been under house arrest and have been forbidden to travel since May, 2007, and Dr. Gao Yaojie, who has been one of the forefront advocates of the rights of HIV/AIDS victims infected through a blood-for-sale scandal in the 1990s.
The Chinese government keeps secret the number of political prisoners languishing in its jails. Many political or religious dissenters are sentenced under criminal–not political—charges and therefore are not counted as political prisoners, making a census of their numbers particularly difficult.
What about the death penalty?
While the government still considers the number of executions to be a state secret, estimates suggest that up to 10,000 people are executed every year. According to Amnesty International, this is more than six times the total number of known executions worldwide in 2006. More than 60 criminal offenses are subject to the death penalty in China, including white collar economic crimes such as embezzlement. Under pressure, in 2006 the government required Supreme Court review of all death penalty cases. Executed prisoners are a major source of organs used in transplant surgery in China. It is unclear if new regulations governing organ procurement which took effect in July 2007 will limit the practice. A lack of transparency about the use of the death penalty in China and the considerable sums of money involved in the sale of organs, particularly to recipients from outside of the country, raise serious questions about whether the authorities are fully ensuring that organ donations and transplants from executed prisoners occur in strict observance of their legal right of consent for such operations.
There are churches in China. Is there religious freedom?
The Chinese government only allows “normal” religious activities, which it defines as state-sanctioned religions and churches. It does not recognize freedom of religion outside the state-controlled system, which registers and oversees all congregations, mosques, temples, churches, and monasteries. Unregistered religious groups are by definition illegal. The government also curtails freedom of belief by labeling certain groups cults, such as Falungong. Leaders and those caught publishing and distributing Falungong literature face severe repression.
Are ethnic minorities free to practice their religion, culture and language?
The recent crackdown in Tibet is the latest episode of Chinese repression in this region. In Tibet, Chinese authorities still view the Dalai Lama, in exile in India since 1959, as the lynch-pin of the effort to separate Tibet from China, and view Tibetan Buddhist belief and Tibetan culture as supportive of those efforts. Suspected “separatists,” many of whom come from monasteries and nunneries, face imprisonment and torture. Those who are found in possession of a photo of the Dalai Lama are often imprisoned. In spite of plans for economic development of Tibetan regions, the opening of the Qinghai-Lhasa railroad in July 2006 exacerbated concerns among Tibetans that they would be unable to compete economically with an even greater influx of Han Chinese migrants. Human Rights Watch has documented how since 2000, the Chinese government has carried out a campaign to forcibly relocate Tibetan herders to urban areas and farmland, destroying their livelihoods and way of life, and denying them access to justice for violations of their rights.
The Chinese government continues to use the “war on terrorism” to justify its policies to eradicate the “three evil forces” – terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism – allegedly prevalent among Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim population in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. As a result, Uighurs who express “separatist” tendencies are routinely sentenced in quick, secret, and summary trials, sometimes accompanied by mass sentencing rallies. Imposition of the death penalty is common.