The International Olympic Committee came under sever criticism this week by human rights groups for calling on China to negate human rights ahead of the 2008 Beijing games.
Chairman of the International Olympic Committee’s coordination commission Hein Verbruggen blasted rights groups for using the Olympic Games as a platform on which to advocate human rights and called upon the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) to “take steps to negate” human rights agendas.
There are growing calls for a boycott of the 2008 Olympics to protest against Chinese government's poor human rights record but rights groups fear that IOC stance will embolden the authorities to crackdown harder on human rights defenders.
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), in the framework of their joint programme, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, wrote a letter to the Verbruggen to express the organisations' disappointment at the Olympic official's public comments.
"Contrary to your belief in the separation between political and social agendas and the Olympic Games, the Olympic Charter clearly recognises the strong relationship between the two," the groups pointed out to Verbruggen.
The Observatory reminded the official of the Principle 2 of the Charter that declares the goal of Olympism 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” and article A-1 of the Code of Ethics states that “safeguarding the dignity of the individual is a fundamental requirement of Olympism”.
The groups argued that In contravention of the Code of Ethics requirements for the preservation of human dignity China continues to carry out between 8,000 and 10,000 executions each year and the practice of torture remains widespread.
China also breached the prohibition on discrimination contained in Principle 5 of the Code of Ethics, by violating the rights of ethnic minorities, according to the human rights defenders.
The Observatory supports the campaign initiated by the French Platform “China Olympic Games 2008 - 8 Requirements for Beijing”, composed of nine human rights Non-Governmental Organisations, which promotes eight specific measures that fulfil the engagements undertaken by Chinese authorities before the IOC.
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