Australian Financial Review: Olympic Chief Warns China On Human Rights

April 26, 2002 Friday

Beijing

The International Olympic Committee has warned China that it risks losing the right to hold the 2008 Games unless it improves its human rights record.

The strong warning from the new IOC President Jacques Rogge yesterday coincided with the third anniversary of a giant protest by the Falun Gong group that led to the movement being banned by the Chinese Government.

China banned the Falun Gong [Jiang regime's slanderous term omitted] three months after more than 10,000 of its members surrounded the Zhongnanhai leadership compound on April 25, 1999, in a protest against government repression. In an interview with the BBC "Hardtalk" television program yesterday, Mr Rogge said China had agreed to improve its human rights record as part of the agreement it signed with the IOC to host the 2008 Games in Beijing.

"We are convinced that the Olympic Games will improve human rights in China," Mr Rogge told the BBC program.

"However, the IOC is a responsible organisation and if either security, logistics or human rights are not acted upon to our satisfaction, then we will act.

"The IOC will make sure within its own sphere that human rights are respected. In a host city contract, there are several clauses pertaining to such matters, which must be respected by the city."

Mr Rogge's strong comments suggest he is far more concerned about China's record on human rights than his predecessor Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Mr Rogge said the IOC would be conferring with the UN and Amnesty International on human rights in China as the Olympic body did not have expertise in the area.

Amnesty International has been a strong critic of Beijing's human rights record and earlier this month issued a report claiming the 2,468 people executed in China last year were 80 per cent of the world total.

The human rights group said the figure of 2,468 in 2001 was also a major rise on the 1,000 or so who were sentenced to death in 2000. The US State Department last month also issued a major report condemning China's human rights record.

"The [Chinese] Government's human rights record throughout the year remained poor and the Government continued to commit numerous and serious abuses," the US State Department report said.

"Authorities still were quick to suppress any person or group whether religious, political or social that they perceived to be a threat to Government power or to national stability," it said.

Agence France-Presse reported that one Falun Gong protester was arrested in Beijing's Tiananmen Square yesterday.