9th August, 2007

DAVID ADAMS

Amnesty International has urged Chinese authorities to take urgent measures to stop human rights violations or risk tarnishing the legacy of the Beijing Olympics.

With a year to go until the Olympics, the organisation says that Beijing-based activists continue to face ‘house arrest’ while those in other parts of China are facing increased abuse. They have also expressed concern about China's use of the death penalty and an “ongoing crackdown on the media” which includes the imprisonment of journalists, forced dismissal of staff, publication closures and “pervasive internet censorship”.

Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan says that unless authorities take “urgent meaures” to stop human rights violations over the coming year, “they risk tarnishing the image of China and the legacy of the Beijing Olympics”.

"Not only are we not seeing delivery on the promises made that the Olympics would help improve the human rights situation in China, but the police are using the pretext of the Olympics to extend the use of detention without trial. This is despite the fact that substantial reform or abolition of such methods has been on China's reform agenda for many years."

Amnesty’s call comes as Bosnewslife reports that a house church in Xinjiang province was raided and members allegedly detained and abused during their interrogation in the latest apparent government backed-crackdown on expanding churches.

China Aid Association, a major religious rights group with close ties to Chinese house churches, told the news organisation that some of the relatives of members were also “punished” by the military during the 1st June raid.

Meanwhile, Christian rights group the Voice Of the Martyrs has expressed concern about other Christian detainees, including Shuang Shuying, a 77-year-old woman who was sentenced to two years imprisonment by the Beijing Chongwen District People's Court on February 26 this year. She was sentenced on charges of "willfully damaging private property."

“She and her son, (house church activist) Hua Huiqi, were attacked by police and arrested on 24th January," the organisation said. Hua was released on 26th July but Shuang, who suffers from a heart problem and diabetes, remains in custody.

In a report released to mark a year to the Olympic Games, Amnesty International say that while there has been an apparent drop in the number of people executed over the first half of the year compared with the same period last year, there remains a lack of transparency in the application of the death penalty. They have also expressed concern about the broad range of crimes for which people can be executed - as many as 68 offences. China executed an estimated 8,000 people last year.

Elsewhere in its report, Amnesty have said they remain remain “deeply concerned” that Chinese authorities are using the Olympic Games as a pretext to extend the use of detention without trial.

And they say that while regulations to increase the freedom of foreign journalists to cover news stories in China in the run up to and during the Olympics have been introduced, this has been against a background of increased offical controls over domestic media and cite allegations of forced sackings, censorship and ongoing imprisonment of journalists.

Some human rights defenders, meanwhile, are facing “heightened levels of abuse”, according to Amnesty. This includes the arbitary detention and surveillance of some Beijing-based activists.

As well as calling for Chinese authorities to take a range of actions to address human rights abuses, Amnesty International has said it remains “deeply concerned” about the “apparent reluctance of the IOC (International Olympic Committee) to take a more proactive stance on human rights issues in the run-up to the Olympics”.

They say that ongoing human rights violations go against core principles of the Olympic Charter, including the “preservation of human dignity” and “respect for universal fundamental ethical principles”.

Khan says the IOC “must promote a positive legacy of the Olympics built on respect for human rights”.

"The Chinese authorities must press ahead with their promises to improve human rights so that when August 2008 arrives the Chinese people can be proud in every respect of what their country has to offer the world."

- with Bosnewslife.com.

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