MONTREAL, Dec. 19: Reporters Without Borders welcomes the resolution adopted by the European parliament on 13 December on the state of relations between the European Union and China and their dialogue on human rights. The resolution said concerns about human rights should get more attention in the preparations for the Beijing Olympics and it called on the International Olympic Committee to evaluate China’s respect for the promises it made in 2001 when it won the 2008 games for Beijing.
The European parliament said it was also worried about online censorship in China and urged the Chinese authorities to release imprisoned cyber-dissidents and to render the thousands of blocked websites accessible again. The resolution finally urged China to take effective measures to guarantee free speech and press freedom and voiced concern about the failure to enforce the new rules for foreign journalists working in China. The lack of any real progress on these issues eight months before the start of the Beijing games was condemned by members of the European parliament, human rights organisations and former recipients of the Sakharov prize, including Reporters Without Borders, at a news conference yesterday at the European parliament in Brussels.
In the United States, a resolution has been submitted to congress by representative Dana Rohrabacher calling for a boycott of the games.
_____________
For further information: Emily Jacquard, secretary general, Reporters
Without Borders Canada, (514) 521-4111, Cell: (514) 258-4208, Fax: (514)
521-7771, rsfcanada@rsf.org
