Phurbu Thinley
Beijing 2008: Launch of a new campaign about Beijing Olympics and letter to IOC President Jacques Rogge on eve of IOC meeting
June 28: Paris based press freedom organisation Reporters Without borders (RSF) has re-launched a new international campaign, “Beijing 2008,” to draw attention to the cynicism of the Chinese government’s refusal to allow greater freedom of expression and release the approximately 100 journalists and cyber-dissidents it is holding.
On the eve of the International Olympic Committee session that it is due to take place in Guatemala City from 4 to 7 July, RSF has written to IOC president Jacques Rogge stating, “Throughout the world, concern is growing about the holding of these Olympics, which have been taken hostage by a government that balks at taking action to guarantee freedom of expression and respect for the Olympic Charter’s humanistic values (. . .)
With just 13 months to go to the start of the Beijing Summer Olympics, RSF’s press statement released yesterday says “the authorities still have not kept the promises to improve the human rights situation that they gave when they were awarded the games in 2001.”
“You know better than anyone that the Chinese government and Communist Party attach the utmost importance to the success of the Olympic Games for their own sakes, but without keeping any of the promises they have made” RSF has written in its letter to the IOC president.
“Mr. President, it is not too late to get the Chinese organisers, who are for the most part also senior political officials, to release prisoners of conscience, reform repressive laws and end censorship,” the letter reads.
“We expect firm action from you. It is time to say clearly to the Chinese authorities that the contempt with which they treat the international community is unacceptable. With the entire Olympic community gathered in Guatemala City, it is no longer time for timid, whispered comments. The hour has come for the IOC, through you, to speak clearly about the problems. Your demands will be heard and the Olympic movement will emerge strengthened from it.”
The letter concludes: “Mr. President, we do not doubt your commitment to freedom of expression. We believe that your convictions and those of the entire Olympic movement will enable you to quickly do what everyone is expecting of you – to take action on behalf of freedoms in China before the start of the 2008 Olympic Games.”
Reporters Without Borders has re-launched its “Beijing 2008” campaign with a graphic of the Olympic rings replaced by handcuffs. Using its sections and networks, the organisation for press freedom is set to distribute the campaign ad worldwide for one year, without any let-up.
The graphic is available in a high-definition version (EPS, 300 DPI, CMJN) and in six languages from the Media Downloads section of the Reporters Without Borders website: www.rsf.org. Web banners are also available in French, English and Spanish in the following formats: 728 x 90, 468 x 60, 120 x 600, 250 x 250.
Following are the Reporters Without Border’s set of demands in run-up to Beijing 2008 Games
The RSF’s list of nine things the Chinese authorities must do before the Beijing Olympic Games:
1. Release all journalists and Internet users detained in China for exercising their right to information.
2. Abolish for ever the restrictive articles in the Foreign Correspondents Guide that limit the media’s freedom of movement and work.
3. Disband the Publicity Department (the former Propaganda Department), which exercises daily control over content in the Chinese press.
4. End the jamming of foreign radio stations.
5. End the blocking of thousands of news and information websites based abroad.
6. Suspend the “11 Commandments of the Internet,” which lead to content censorship and self-censorship on websites.
7. End the blacklisting of journalists and human rights activists, which prevents them from visiting China.
8. Lift the ban on Chinese media using foreign news agency video footage and news reports without permission.
9. Legalize independent organisations of journalists and human rights activists.
RSF also supports the following eight demands of the Collectif Chine JO 2008 (China 2008 Olympics Collective), an alliance of nine human rights organisations based in France:
1. Free all those persons who have been imprisoned since the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations and all prisoners of conscience.
2. Put an end to the control of news and information, including on the Internet.
3. Suspend executions throughout China with a view to abolishing capital punishment.
4. Abolish non-judicial detention.
5. End the use of torture.
6. Allow the formation of free and independent trade unions.
7. Repeal article 306 of the criminal code, which allows repressive measures to be taken against lawyers.
8. End the forcible evictions of citizens from their homes or lands.
