Olympics fail as reform catalyst for China: Amnesty Int'l

LONDON, April 1 Kyodo

Amnesty International called on China on Tuesday to drastically improve its treatment of human rights defenders or risk serious doubt being cast on its commitment to increasing human rights before the Beijing Olympics in August.

''The Olympic Games have so far failed to act as a catalyst for reform,'' Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan said.

''Unless urgent steps are taken to redress the situation, a positive human rights legacy for the Beijing Olympics looks increasingly beyond reach,'' Khan said.

In a report by the humanitarian group titled ''The Olympics Countdown: Crackdown on activists threatens Olympics legacy,'' Amnesty insists the current wave of repression, notably in Tibet and its surrounding regions, is occurring ''not in spite of the Olympics, but actually because of the Olympics.''

''Beijing police statements suggest that China's failure to abolish RTL (re-education through labor) despite longstanding reform efforts within the legislature, is linked to a perceived need to sweep 'undesirables' off the streets as part of the pre-Olympics 'clean-up' of Beijing,'' the report says.

Amnesty's stated concern is that Chinese authorities are using the idea of security as a pretext to crack down on peaceful activists and avoid fulfilling the commitments they ''officially and repeatedly made'' during the Beijing 2008 bidding process to improve human rights in the run-up to the games.

Amnesty urged the Chinese government to release all prisoners of conscience, cease the arbitrary detention of activists and open Tibet to United Nations investigators.

It also called on the International Olympic Committee to take a more active role in connection with human rights in China.

''When it awarded the Olympic Games to China, the IOC made its own expectations clear that Beijing's hosting of the Games would bring human rights improvements...it is appropriate therefore to expect the IOC to use its influence with the Chinese authorities to bring about positive change in line with the Olympic Charter,'' the report states, criticizing the IOC's perceived previous lack of public action against China.

Amnesty's call for action expands to other international stakeholders, including Olympic sponsors and world leaders -- particularly those who plan to attend the games -- urging them to make obvious objections to human rights atrocities in China and end the apparent ''conspiracy of silence.''

''With just four months to go, the IOC and world leaders should speak out strongly: a failure to express concern and demand change publicly risks being interpreted as a tacit endorsement of the human rights violations perpetrated by the Chinese authorities in preparation for the Olympic Games,'' Khan said.

Despite the likelihood of protests occurring over China's recent actions in Tibet, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown confirmed Tuesday at his monthly press briefing that he would be present Sunday in London to welcome the Olympic torch in the capital's leg of the Beijing Olympic torch relay.

Brown also repeated his insistence that he would represent Britain at the Beijing Olympics, ignoring rumors of a European Union boycott, stating the consensus of opinion around the world was that the Olympics should go ahead as a sporting occasion, which Britain itself would host in 2012 in London.

''We have to bear in mind that although there is a huge amount of controversy now surrounding the Olympics because of what has been happening in Tibet, the Dalai Lama himself has made it clear he does not want there to be a boycott,'' he said.

''Surely the way forward is to seek that reconciliation (between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese authorities) and facilitate that and I think that is the important thing for the next few days,'' the prime minister added.

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