Aftonbladet [Sweden]: Open letter to the members of the Swedish IOC

On May 23, 2001, European parliamentarian (the Liberal Party) Cecilia Malmstr m and Member of the Swedish Parliament (the Liberal Party) Helena Bergholz wrote an open letter to the members of the Swedish IOC. The letter was published in "Aftonbladet", one of the major evening newspapers in Sweden June 10 2001.

The letter said, "The Olympic Games, where athletes from all the countries of the world are to compete on equal terms, have long been said to be a symbol of peace and co-operation between nations. This has been said despite the fact that more than half of the countries that participate in the Olympic Games are heavy-handed dictatorships which despise both democracy and human rights. Against this background it is particularly important that an organization such as the IOC actively promotes the idea behind the Olympiads, namely that of peace, ethics and respect for human dignity."

It continued, "The People s Republic of China is one the world's last remaining [party' name omitted] dictatorships."

The letter mentioned, "The persecution of practitioners of the meditation form, Falun Gong, is in full progress and thousands of innocent practitioners have been arrested and sent to labour camps and mental hospitals."

"As a way of striking a blow for the basic idea of the Olympic Games, the IOC should also consider the way in which a country lives up to the UN's declaration of human rights when the selection is made. A requirement of this sort from the Olympic movement could serve as an important means of bringing pressure to bear on the development towards increased democracy and respect for human rights around the world. China can certainly manage to arrange a Games of high quality, but the country could not, under present conditions, manage a human rights criterion."

The letter also said, "A decision to hold the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing would be a violation of the idea of the Olympic Games itself, in so much as that we risk legitimizing the oppression and persecution of the Chinese dictatorship. Unfortunately, an Olympic Games in Beijing would very likely also risk reducing the pressure on China to alter the politics which it has conducted for more than fifty years."

The letter concluded, "The decision, as to where the 2008 Olympic Games will be held, will be made on 13 July. The IOC then has the opportunity to show that it stands for the regulation which was approved only a couple of years ago and which centres on human dignity and respect for ethical principles. Therefore, we would like to urge the Swedish members to vote against an Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008."