Human Rights - not an Olympic Ideal?

von Petr Kutilek

Der Autor:
Petr Kutílek ist seit 2003 Geschäftsführender Vorsitzender von Olympic Watch. Er graduierte an der Charles Universität in Prag und erhielt an der Central European University in Budapest den Masters Abschluss für Politikwissenschaften. Vor seinem Beitritt zu Olympic Watch arbeitete er mit mehreren Menschenrechtsorganisationen in ganz Zentraleuropa zusammen. 2003 bis 2004 arbeitete er als Außenpolitischer Berater für Senator Jan Ruml, dem stellvertretenden Präsidenten des tschechischen Senats. Gegenwärtig kombiniert er seine Arbeit bei der Internet-Zeitung Prague Daily Monitor mit seiner Arbeit bei Olympic Watch.

Zusammenfassung:
Olympische Ideale sind untrennbar mit den Menschenrechten verbunden. In ihrer Entscheidung die olympischen Spiele in Peking auszurichten, forderte das Internationale Olympische Komitee, dass durch die Ausrichtung der Olympischen Spiele in Peking sich die Menschenrechtslage in China verbessern soll. Gleichzeitig hat das Komitee deutlich gemacht, dass es nicht deren Aufgabe sei die Menschenrechtslage in diesem Land zu überwachen. Ihr gemeinsames Engagement mit den Menschenrechtsorganisationen schien nur etwas mehr zu sein, als eine PR-Übung und das IOC hat offensichtlich seine Wahl getroffen, die Menschenrechtsfrage im Zusammenhang mit den Spielen zu ignorieren.
Die Situation in China hat sich nicht verbessert und die Zeit wird immer knapper. Die Tatsache, dass die Olympischen Spiele für Peking von solch großer Bedeutung sind, stellt eine großartige Möglichkeit dar, für einen Wandel der Menschenrechtslage, wenn man an der richtigen Stelle Druck macht.

Das Referat

Olympic ideals are inextricably linked with human rights. In its decision to grant the organization of the Olympic Games to Beijing, the International Olympic Committee claimed the organization of the Games will help improve the human rights situation in China. Later, under pressure from human rights groups, it has claimed it is not its job to monitor the human rights situation in the country. It has also said that it does not take political positions. Its engagement with human rights organizations so far has seemed little more than a PR exercise, and the IOC is apparently choosing to ignore the human rights context of the Games. Despite promises by the Chinese bidders in 2001, the situation in China is not significantly improving and time is running out. However, the Olympic Games are extremely important for the Beijing regime, which presents a good opportunity for change. Because of the various target groups and actors, activists must be creative in applying the right types of pressure, and address national Olympic committees, athletes and sponsors directly.

The International Olympic Committee made its decision in 2001 based on promises by Beijing bidders that the human rights situation in China would be improving. We heard vague promises by the bidding committee that “the organization of the games will improve the human rights situation in China”, and guarantees of press freedom by the time of the Games. That has not clearly happened, as documented by all independent monitors.
The authoritarian government of the Communist Party of China continues to hold a gold medal in the use of the death penalty. Every year, it sentences to death more people every year than the rest of the world combined. Amnesty International year after year documents about 2,000 death sentences. Estimates from inside China sometimes surpass 10,000 executions a year. One may appreciate the recent change in Supreme Court revisions of death sentences as a step in the positive direction and as proof that international pressure is important. However, the situation remains not transparent and pressure for independent international monitoring is needed.

The Chinese regime imprisons and tortures people who peacefully exercise their right to freedom of expression and association. Committee to Protect Journalists documents 31 journalists in prison. Reporters without Borders documents dozens of journalists and internet activists detained and points out that sophisticated automatic systems and 30,000 human censors work to keep the internet clean of politically “harmful” content. New restrictions on internet cafes have just been announced, stepping up the pressure on internet providers to carry out self-censorship.

Tibetan Buddhists, Uyghur Muslims, Chinese Christians and Falun Gong practitioners continue to suffer from persecution. Falun Gong practitioners seem to be among the groups most strongly targeted by the Chinese government.

The government denies meaningful autonomy to the Tibetan people. It obstructs effective talks with the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile. It issues very un-Olympic “non-peaceful” (to use its own their terminology) threats to the independent democracy of Taiwan and is a supporter of such brutal regimes as North Korea, Burma and Sudan.

Human rights are violated even in direct relation to the preparation of the Games. The Centre for Housing Rights and Evictions documents 300,000 Beijing residents have been evicted for the Olympic reconstruction of Beijing, usually without adequate compensation. As is the case with most other causes, those who dare to protest are harassed or outright persecuted. In the case of Beijing Olympics-related evictions, the leader of the movement, Ye Guozhu, who lawfully applied to hold a rally for 10,000 evictees, was sentenced to four years in prison.
The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games has clearly become one of the key tools for domestic and international political propaganda of the Chinese Communist Party. This unelected minority has given up attempts to ideologically legitimize its rule over the Chinese people and is desperately looking for other ways to maintain political legitimacy. It is desperately interested in staying in power and thus is increasing its appeals to “patriotism”.
The IOC has the obligation to protect the Olympic ideals of “harmonious development of man”, “human dignity” and “peace”, and to prevent the political propaganda abuse of the Games. The Olympic charter even states that the practice of sport is a human right. This arguably means that the Olympic movement should naturally be obliged to protect human rights.

Human rights activists have made good faith efforts to engage in discussion with the IOC on issues that threaten to tarnish the Olympic ideals. Olympic Watch has approached the IOC on several occasions, including in August 2004, February 2006 and August 2006, together with IGFM and several other organizations. The answer has been either resounding silence, or the IOC repeating the official PR line that it believes the organization of the Games will improve the human rights situation in China. Last summer, we have stated that the IOC has simply refused to face the reality in which Beijing 2008 is to take place.
It has become necessary to look for help of others to make sure the Olympic Games have a positive, rather than negative effect on the human rights situation of the Chinese people. National Olympic committees, individual athletes, and even Olympic sponsors have the obligation and opportunity to act to protect the Olympic ideals and internationally recognized human rights.
National Olympic Committees and individual athletes should start considering ways how they can protest the conditions under which the 2008 Games are to take place. Among the several options at hand are:

• full, publicly stated boycott of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
• staging peaceful protests in Beijing during the Games
• including Chinese, Tibetan and Uyghur exiles in their teams and delegations
• visiting human rights defenders in prison.Human rights organizations should assist them in finding the most appropriate ways, depending on the developments between now and the beginning of the Games.

Corporate sponsors also have an obligation and opportunity to show their commitment to Olympic ideals. They can make it clear to IOC and to BOCOG that their business philosophy does not condone propaganda abuse of the Games and human rights violations. Human rights activists should remind them of this obligation.
The challenge with national Olympic committees will be that they will claim they cannot do much because they need to stay apolitical. They need to be reminded that human rights is not a political issue – it is beyond and above politics of any country. Nothing prevents them from expressing support for human rights publicly, clearly and unreservedly – activists should demand that.

Athletes themselves need to be educated about the conditions in China. It is reasonable to believe that many of them truly do not have a clear idea of the situation in China, because of the official propaganda of the PRC. Activists should inform athletes about what is happening in China in very simple terms and give them a realistic opportunity to express their support to human rights. Because active athletes will very likely want to focus on their athletic performance at this once-in-four-years event, activists need to also focus on support by former athletic stars, who are likely to have a much freer hand in expressing their opinions.

Overall, the message for the Chinese people must be one of respect and support, so that it cannot be used by the Communist propaganda machine as a manifestation of “Western imperialism”.

The Games do offer a unique opportunity to communicate through the media, through the athletes, and directly, with the world public and with the Chinese public. I look forward to our further discussion on how we can best achieve change for the benefit of the Chinese people.