Human Rights Watch - China - Beijing Olympics 2008

Introduction

China Olympics Watch

When the International Olympics Committee elected Beijing as the host city for the 29th Olympic Games, it said that this would leave a “unique legacy to China and to sports.” But what will that legacy be? For the sake of China’s people, the Olympics movement, and human rights, we hope that the 2008 Olympics will be an impetus for China to demonstrate greater respect for the human rights guaranteed to all under international law.

China continues to have serious human rights problems. As China enters the global arena, the 2008 Beijing Olympics will provide an opportunity for China to come into compliance with international legal standards that protect human rights. While recent leadership changes have sparked some optimism that respect for human rights in China will improve, in fact this has not happened. The government actively limits expressions of dissent by all Chinese citizens, especially in Tibet and Xinjiang. China's ruling Communist Party bans opposition political parties and religious organizations independent of government control. Although the government permits a few non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to operate, most other “non-governmental” organizations are actually government-controlled. China prohibits domestic human rights groups and bars entry to international human rights groups. The state continues to engage in Internet surveillance and media censorship. Arbitrary forced evictions are frequent, including in Beijing where construction of Olympics sites is underway.

International human rights law guarantees everyone such rights as freedom of expression, due process and legal redress during eviction from their homes, and the right to organize independent labor unions. The 2008 Beijing Olympics will shine a global spotlight on these rights in China.

How will China’s pervasive censorship and control of domestic and international media and the Internet play out when thousands of international journalists descend on Beijing?
How are the Olympic Games being used to justify the violent forced evictions of thousands of people from their homes?
As international businesses reach out to the world’s largest consumer market, how do China’s restrictions on labor rights affect workers on the ground?

This site provides information about three key issues: censorship of the media and the Internet; the forced eviction of people from their homes to make way for Olympics-related construction; and the rights of workers to organize independent trade unions. These pages include tools you can use to track and understand these key human rights areas as we lead up to 2008: Chinese laws and regulations in English, reports that provide in-depth background and analysis, translations of Internet debates among Chinese citizens on key human rights issues, and some highlighted individual “Gold Medal Rights Defenders”—Chinese citizens imprisoned because they exercised and defended their basic human rights.

A fourth page provides tools for activists that will help you to use the Internet to promote human rights in China.

We will be regularly updating this Web site until 2008, so please bookmark it and check back in.

Updates:

The Olympic Games Come To China: Will Human Rights? By Mickey Spiegel