By Michele Kambas
ATHENS, August 5 – Pro-Tibet activists criticised the International Olympics Committee (IOC) on Thursday for turning a blind eye to alleged abuses in the territory by China, hosts of the 2008 Games.
China’s human rights record, which the country has always defended, is likely to come under increased scrutiny as the countdown starts to the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
“We are opposed to Beijing hosting the games and deeply regret the decision of the IOC to award the Olympics to China,” Tibet campaigner Wangpo Tethong told a news conference in Athens, which is hosting the 2004 Games from August 13-29.
The IOC defended its decision. “Hosting the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing will bring tens of thousands of people to China including more than 20,000 journalists and broadcasters,” said IOC spokesperson Giselle Davies.
“The preparations are already bringing a greater understanding of Olympic values to a fifth of the worlds population. The IOC continues to see these as positive steps.”
Chinese troops occupied Tibet in 1950 and Beijing considers the Himalayan region part of its territory.
World security concerns and a long-standing Olympics practice of preventing political demonstrations during Games have also heightened worries that Beijing could use the Olympics to extend its crackdown, activists said.
“Despite taking a bet that the Olympics would lead to change …recent correspondence from the IOC suggests that they are washing their hands of the whole (human rights) issue,” said Alison Reynolds, a member of the International Tibet Support Network, an umbrella group for Tibet-related NGOs.
Sustained international scrutiny and pressure was required to bring about improvements in China’s track record but the IOC appeared unwilling to help, she said.
“We call on them to take action now or let China know that they risk losing the games,” Reynolds said.
Tethong said they would distribute copies of a report detailing human rights violations by China to IOC members who are meeting in Athens this week.
No meetings were scheduled with IOC members after dismissive responses to earlier overtures, they said. “We are really a little bit frustrated by the silence of the IOC on this issue,” said Tethong.
Earlier this year China urged the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, to abandon his vision of an autonomous Tibet.
Beijing says that the self-government model of Hong Kong and Macau is not applicable in the case of Tibet because the region had always been an inseparable part of China.
