China Olympics
As you probably know, the 2008 Olympic Games will be held
in China. The Olympics are only six months away but, in China, human rights are
being violated and an alarming number of abuse reports are being made. When
China won the Olympic bid in 2001, China promised to improve its human rights
record but the Chinese governments control over the media and the Internet are
growing stronger. With such a high profile event happening in China, what the
world will see is becoming a worry.
The death penalty, a clear abuse of human rights, is still
in place in China today. China executes more people per year than the rest of
the world put together. Amnesty International knows of 1010 executions made in
China in 2006 but this figure could be staggeringly higher, according to other
sources. The most shocking figure suggested was 8000 people in one year – that’s
22 people a day. Methods of execution include lethal injection and a firing
squad.
The Chinese government also believes in “re-education”.
This means that people, who do not agree 100% with the views of the authority,
face up to four years in a labour camp without being charged or receiving a
trial. These people include members of banned religions and people who criticise
the government. The government is using these camps to “clean up” China in time
for the Olympics. It is not just these individuals who go without a fair trial.
The majority of evidence used in crime allegation cases is compiled from the
results of torture. This is becoming unjustly common. Electric shocks, kicking,
beating and food and sleep deprivation are all methods of torture employed by
the Chinese authorities. Despite the high number of deaths in police custody,
investigations into cases of torture are rare.
Websites and websearches have are being blocked and banned
by the Chinese governments and Internet users are being unfairly sentenced. The
sentence for violating the Internet repression put in place by authorities can
range between 2-12 years. One of the most publicised cases of unjust
imprisonment is that of journalist Shi Tao. He is serving a 10-year prison
sentence for sending an email from his Yahoo! Account, containing information
concerning the governments’ instructions to journalists on how to report the
15-year anniversary of the suppression of demonstrators in Tianamen Square.
Amnesty has being campaigning on behalf of Shi Tao, by pressing the Chinese
government and Yahoo! to take action. It is not just journalists who have been
oppressed by the authorities. Lawyers, trade unionists, and HIV/AIDS activists
have also been harassed and arrested.
Amnesty International are campaigning to urge the Chinese
authorities to improve their human rights records before the Olympic Games in
August 2008 as was promised:
“…by allowing Beijing to host the Games you will help the
development of human rights”
Liu Jingmin, then Vice President of the Beijing 2008
Olympic Games Bid Committee – April 2001
[All of the above information has been taken from
www.amnesty.org.uk] |
