Excerpts of last week’s letter from Human Rights Watch to the Ethics Commission of the International Olympic Committee:
We are deeply concerned about the official position on human rights articulated by the executive body of the Olympic movement: that respect for human rights is in essence a political matter that falls outside of its mandate.
Although Human Rights Watch has not called for a general boycott of the Games, we do believe that the Olympics is a unique and appropriate moment for world to pay attention to China’s human rights record, and an important opportunity for China’s government to make improvements. We are documenting abuses that are taking place as a result of China’s hosting the Games, including:
Jailing on charges of subversion advocates who dare criticize the Olympics; Massive uncompensated forced evictions to make way for the construction of Olympic sites and related infrastructures; Systemic and uncorrected abuses of construction workers’ labor rights, including denial of any remuneration and access to basic health care; Sweeps of the poorest and most vulnerable groups from Beijing, including petitioners, vagrants, beggars and other marginalized communities; Pervasive practical restrictions on foreign media, in contravention of specific commitments made to the IOC in 2001. In addition, as of today foreign media are barred from freely accessing Tibetan areas.
We have urged the IOC to take up these matters, both privately and publicly. As we said at our last meeting in Lausanne, we do not expect the IOC to become a human rights organization, but we do expect the IOC to become an advocate for improvements, to display some public concern, and to directly address the many abuses that have resulted directly from the staging of the Games in China.
– To read the full letter, .
