China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update

Olympics Issue - August 2008 China Human Rights and Subscribe View HTML Version Rule of Law Update United States Congressional-Executive Commission on China Representative Sander M. Levin, Chairman | Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Co-Chairman Special Issue: China's Olympic Commitments Statement of Chairman Sander Levin and Co-Chairman Byron Dorgan CECC Updates ● The Human Toll of the Olympics ❍ Press Freedom ❍ Environment ❍ Crackdown on Certain Groups and Individuals ■ Petitioners ■ Activists, NGOs, and Rights Defenders ■ Migrant Workers ■ Religious Groups and Falun Gong Practitioners ■ North Korean Refugees ■ Others ❍ Tibet ❍ Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region ● Officials Order Hotels To Step Up Monitoring and Censorship of Internet Statement of Chairman Sander Levin and Co-Chairman Byron Dorgan August 1, 2008 - China made a number of commitments in its quest to host the 2008 Olympic Summer Games. These included specific commitments to human rights, press freedom, openness and the environment. These commitments are documented and unmistakable. China plays an increasingly significant role in the international community, and it is vital that there be continuing assessment of its commitments, whether as a member of the WTO or as the awarded host of the Olympics. This is not a matter of one country meddling in the affairs of another. Other nations, including ours, have both the responsibility and a legitimate interest in ensuring compliance with these commitments. On July 12, 2001, days before the International Olympic Committee voted to select Beijing as the site of the 2008 Olympics, Mr. Wang Wei, Secretary General of the Beijing Olympic Bid Committee, told the press, "(w)e are confident that the Games coming to China not only promotes our economy, but also enhances all social conditions, including education, health and human rights." These words could not have been clearer. Human rights and the 2008 Olympics were linked before Beijing was awarded the Games, and China itself linked them. CECC China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update And China was correct to do so. Let us be absolutely clear: criticism of China continues today not due to meddling, not due to "subversion," and not even because China is hosting the Olympics. Criticism continues because China's leaders refuse to live up to the international commitments they themselves publicly made. Today, more than 800 individuals are known to be languishing at this very moment in jail cells across China simply for attempting to exercise their rights to speak, to write, to work, to organize, and to engage fully in spiritual and religious life. They are peasants, professors, parents, priests, and poets. They include those who were branded subversive for stating publicly that the protection of human rights mattered more to them than hosting the Olympic Games. Beijing's Olympic bid documents stated "There will be no restrictions on journalists in reporting on the Olympic Games," and Beijing's Action Plan for the Olympics states that "(i)n the preparation for the Games, we will be open in every aspect to the rest of the country and the whole world." Yet the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China received reports of 160 cases of various forms of harassment against foreign journalists in China during 2007 and 110 cases just in the first six months of 2008. Furthermore, journalists in Beijing's Olympic press facilities reported on July 30 that China blocked foreign reporters' access to foreign web sites, including those of organizations reporting on human rights issues related to the Olympic Games. Reporters in the Olympic press headquarters in Beijing today confirmed that some previously restricted sites had been unblocked, but whether these actions constitute full compliance with China's prior commitments remains to be seen. Beijing's bid documents also stated that "Beijing promises to provide a clean environment for the athletes by 2008." Yet athletes from around the world are arriving in Beijing with anti- pollution masks, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is considering rescheduling endurance events such as the marathon to prevent health risks due to air pollution. China's failure to meet the commitments it made in its quest for the Games — which, as this newsletter shows, are clear, documented and unmistakable — underscores serious questions about what China and other nations will do in the future if China's failure to meet its Olympics-related commitments continues. To contact Chairman Sander Levin, call Douglas Grob at 202-226-3777. To contact Co-Chairman Byron Dorgan, call Charlotte Oldham-Moore at 202-226-3798. CECC Updates The Human Toll of the Olympics While the financial cost of the Olympics is estimated at $43 billion, the human toll of China's preparations for the Olympics is also considerable. Seeking to ensure security and project a "positive" image, China has cracked down on groups it deems potential "troublemakers": migrant workers, petitioners, ethnic minorities, Falun Gong practitioners, activists, rights defenders, religious leaders, and others. This crackdown has intensified during the months and weeks leading up to the Games, which begin on August 8. At the same time, China has fallen short in meeting formal commitments it made to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). These commitments include increased freedom for the foreign press and progress on environmental issues. Olympics Issue Page 2 of 10 CECC China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update Press Freedom ● Foreign broadcasters and journalists in China have described numerous burdensome and last-minute bureaucratic hurdles thrown up by Chinese officials in recent weeks to limit uncensored, live coverage during the Olympics, according to a July 24 Associated Press (AP) article. Chinese officials claim restrictions on live coverage and broadcast sites are necessary for security. Foreign journalists, however, note that these restrictions contradict earlier promises and appear designed to give officials wide latitude to restrict reporting arbitrarily. ● The Commission noted in previous analyses that China promised foreign journalists "no restrictions" for the Olympics. Officials have made frequent exceptions to this promise - including barring foreign reporters from traveling anywhere near reported protests in Tibetan areas, and detaining foreign reporters attempting to cover protests by parents following a May earthquake - suggesting that officials retain considerable discretion to deviate from this promise. ● A Beijing Olympic official confirmed on July 30 that foreign reporters' access to certain Web sites, including those relating to Falun Gong, would be blocked at Olympic venues, according to a July 30 Agence France-Presse (AFP) article. Foreign journalists initially reported not being able to access the Web sites for Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Tibetan government-in-exile, those providing information about the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests and Falun Gong, Radio Free Asia, Deutsche Welle, and the Hong Kong-based Apple Daily, and the Chinese-language sites for Voice of America, and the BBC, according to the AFP article and a PC World article and Deutsche Welle article of the same date. They also said that such censorship was not evident in previous Games. In September 2006, a Chinese Olympic official said that Internet access for foreign reporters during the Olympics would be uncensored, according to a September 27, 2006, Reuters article (via China Daily). In April of this year, the IOC expressed concern to Chinese Olympic officials over Internet censorship that followed Tibetan protests that began in March, saying that China's Host City Contract (which is not publicly available) with the IOC obligated it to offer open Internet access to foreign journalists during the Olympics, according to an April 2 South China Morning Post (SCMP) article (subscription required). ● On July 30, the IOC acknowledged that it had "negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked on the basis they were not considered Games related," according to a July 30 Reuters article. A day later the IOC said that "[w]e have a team working with [the Beijing Olympic Committee] to unblock sites to make it easier for reporters and to remove any concerns that sites are censored. Apart from those sites, for example, which relate to pornography, which is common to every country in the world to block, and sites which could be considered subversive, all other sites should be free to enable all reporters to properly report on the Games as they have in previous Games," according to an August 2 Australian article. The New York Times reported on August 1 that the Web sites for Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Radio Free Asia, and the Chinese language service of the BBC had become accessible at the Olympic Village, but that other sites relating to Tibet, Chinese dissidents, and the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests remained blocked. Olympics Issue Page 3 of 10 CECC China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update See previous Commission analyses in this area going back to 2005: China's Olympic Commitments on Media Control and Internet Access (Posted 07/2008) Hu Jintao Speech Stresses Media's Role To Serve Party (Posted 07/2008) China Commits to "Open Government Information" Effective May 1, 2008 (Posted 05/2008) Censorship of Internet and Foreign News Broadcasts Following Tibetan Protests (Posted 04/2008) Mixed Progress for Olympic Foreign Reporting Regulations One Year Later (Posted 01/2008)

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