Friday February 8, 2008

The Human Rights Torch Relay (HRTR), an international campaign that seeks to put human rights on the Beijing Olympics agenda, has arrived in Ghana and received with a rally in Kumasi. The arrival of the torch, the first stop on the African continent, is part of a 12-month global relay calling for an end to all reported human rights violations supported by the Chinese government.

Inspired by the Olympic torch, the Human Rights Torch Relay is expected to visit over 150 cities in 37 countries before it will be received by the Chinese people, leading up to the Olympics in August 2008.
The torch, which was handed over to Ghana from India, has already traveled through Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia.

It is touring the world with the message: "The Olympics and crimes against humanity cannot co-exist in China." It highlights the persecution of Falun Gong, the most severely persecuted group in China; the plight of Tibetans, Christians, democracy advocates, outspoken lawyers and reporters and the fueling of oppression and slaughter in Darfur, Burma, Zimbabwe and North Korea...

Among the organizers of the campaign are the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG), Asia-Pacific Human Rights Watch Charitable Trust, Amnesty International Ghana, All-China Alliance for Protecting Human Rights and Opposing Violence and Friends of Falun Gong in the USA.
The various groups are spearheading the campaign to draw attention to what it terms as the Chinese Communist Party's worsening human rights violations, both inside and outside China's borders, and to press for change.

The Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG), which was established in 2006 and is said to consist of over 300 legislators, religious leaders, lawyers, medical doctors and human rights advocates from Europe, Asia, North America and Oceania, is aiming to go into China to independently investigate the persecution of members of Falun Gong, especially the reported crimes of organ harvesting.

According to Zoe Ackah, campaign co-ordinator in Ghana and a volunteer with CIPFG, there could not be any Olympic games in China if the human rights record in that country was not the best. "The Olympics cannot co-exist with human rights abuses," she said.

The torch ambassadors included players and officials of King Faisal Football Club and Kessben Football Club, Hiplife artist Okyeame Kwame and Mr. Michael Brigandi, President of Amnesty International, Ghana.