4Play the game 2002

By Jean Paul Marthoz

journalists refuse to see that politics mixeswith sports they should change jobs,and whynot, become pom pom girls or FIFA steno-

graphers. Politics has always been the fellow travellerof sports, and especially of Olympic sports […]

The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing is of courseno exception and China is not a country that leavesanyone indifferent.

It is a great country, a huge country that plays aleading role on the international scene.

It is also a country with a one-party regimewhich has a very bad human rights record. This iswhere politics, like Manuel Puig's spider woman,again kisses sports.

[…] When China was selected I felt like the lo-nely goalkeeper at the moment of the penalty.HRWdecided however, contrary to other human rightsorganizations like Reporters sans frontiers and afteran intense internal discussion, not to join the cam-paign for the boycott of Beijing 2008.Why? […]

Because, to start with, HRW is not convincedthat heavy-handed sanctions are necessarily effe-ctive.Although we recognize the validity of the pro-sanctions argument against the South Africanapartheid regime we believe that too often sancti-ons act like cluster bombs with their indiscriminatecollateral damage, hitting the wrong people in theopen field when the real guys are safely hidden intheir bunkers. …

Secondly we listened to our friends in the Chi-nese human rights movement and they were tellingus that a "no" to Beijing would be met with a toug-hening of the regime and would put the democrats

under pressure since they would be accused of be-ing traitors and anti-Chinese.

Strategically we also thought that the preparati-ons for the Olympic Games would give us severalyears that could be used to highlight the human rig-hts situation in China and help improve it.

[…] This is the time now to escape from thestrategic boardroom and to go back to the news-room. Human rights will be a constant issue beforeand during the Beijing Olympics. It will stick to thecoverage like a chewing gum under a school bank.

So what will journalists be confronted with?What should they be looking and prepare themsel-ves for? Here is my tip sheet:

- In an era when big companies like talkingabout corporate social responsibility, check withthe sponsors on how they can avoid being part of ahuman rights abusive system. In a letter to foreigncompanies bidding on construction of Olympic faci-lities, for instance, HRW insisted that they shouldadopt a code of conduct for the treatment of theirworkers, that those losing property or housing befairly compensated and that migrants living in andaround Beijing being displaced for the Olympics befairly treated and not abused.

- The same scrutiny should be applied tocompanies involved in special security systems, in-cluding surveillance and other equipment. Some ofthe technology could probably be recycled and usedagainst dissidents. Check what kinds of safeguardscan be built to limit opportunities for abuse.

- Internet companies should be urged totake a pro active role and press for the lifting of thevarious regulations and controls now in place onweb contact and access.

- Press freedom is a barometer of otherfreedoms and international journalists should clos-ely monitor the situation of press freedom in Chinasince it will have an impact on their own capacity toreport. Now, as described in HRW world report2003, the situation is rather grim. China blockedmajor Internet search engines, closed publications,harassed foreign and domestic journalists, tightenedcontrols on satellite transmission, and hamperedthe work of academics and activists.

- Just prior to the IOC's decision to awardChina the Games, Wang Wei, secretary-general ofthe Official Beijing Committee, had said: "we willgive the media complete freedom to report whenthey come to China". Journalists should test thispromise. They should check with the IOC on howthey intend to live up to their rhetoric and makesure that China honours its pledge to allow all for-eign journalists "complete freedom" to report.Theyshould make sure that the international media haveunrestricted access and there will be no discrimina-tion against journalists or participants based ontheir political or religious views and country of ori-gin.They should get guarantees that there would beno retaliation against Chinese citizens interviewedby the press.

- Let us never forget, unlike the famousWonder batteries, press freedom only runs out ifyou do not use it!

Jean Paul Marthoz spoke as European Press Director ofHuman Rights Watch - www.hrw.orgHe is now editor-in-chief at La Libre Belgique.

Test the promisesHuman rights will stick to the Beijing Olympics like chewing gum under aschool bank, said the European Press Director Jean Paul Marthoz from HumanRights Watch and presented a tip sheet for journalists

“ That was quite an achievement: all those languages and ethnicities, so much content,

so crowded yet unboring, so much fellowship and so little bitchery and backbiting.

A splendid conference ”Colin Tatz, Professor, Australia

EXTRACT

If

Raising livingstandards for a bigpart of the world'spopulation is thebest contributionto human rights,found Weijia - whoalso thought thatthe Olympics will bring aboutpolitical progress

PHOTO: SPORTSFOTO APS

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5 Play the game 2002

By Steen Bille and Jens Sejer Andersen

Is it an exclusive right for the Western he-misphere to define what human rights

mean, or can a country select its own definitionof these international norms?

Questions like these were addressed bluntlyin the first public debate beween the Chineseorganisers of the Olympic Summer Games2008 and a conference room packed with jour-nalists and sports researchers on the alert.

Vice Director of the Media and Communica-tion Department for the 2008 Olympics organi-sers, Sun Weijia, accepted to face the challengeof a direct and unrestricted debate.

For Weijia, it was important to outline Chi-na's organisational and the practical preparati-ons for the games.

He expressed his belief that the games willleave a legacy of significant progress in Beijin-g's infrastructure, provide greater internationalexposure for the nation's culture, and furtherintegrate China into the global community.

When the floor was opened for debate, theparticipants did not spare political sensitivities.Even the first question touched the nerve thatwas to last for half an hour's questioning. Howwould the Chinese deal with the question of hu-man rights in the period from now until 2008?

First of all, Sun Weijia pointed out that he co-uld only offer his personal opinion, as he did notrepresent the government.

»We do attach great importance to the impro-vement of human rights, but- but we think thatdifferent national situations, different backgro-unds and different stages of development canlead to different needs in so far as human rights,«Weijia said and referred to the fact that China ac-count for ¼ or 1/5 of the world population.

»The biggest demand in my view is the legi-timate claim for development, a better life for.Over the past 20 years the Chinese governmenthas succeeded in improving the improving theliving standards for all these people, and Ithink this is the biggest contribution a countrycan make to the cause of human rights.«

Olukayode Thomas of Nigeria then askedwhat a high standard of living is worth withoutfreedom.

»In China freedom for everybody is gua-ranteed by the constitution.« countered SunWeijia.

»We have rights guaranteed by our consti-tution. People can go everywhere they want,do everything they want to do and they canwork or not as they like.

The staging of the Olympics will certainlyimprove democratisation and modernisation

Humanrights on thesportsagenda

Sun Weijia faced the musicon behalf of theChinese Olym-pics organisersand was metwith tough political questions

of the country - but that doesn't mean thatwere are not a democratic country now.

Illegal - and not permittedWhen Ann Callaghan from the London-basedFree Tibet Campaign raised the issues of FalunGong and of a Tibetan activist being sent to workcamp for trying to influence the IOC's stand onChina, Sun Weijia was less forthcoming.

»The problem of Falun Gong it that it is ille-gal. And like in your countries, what is illegal isnot permitted. This is very simple,« Weijia said.

When met with the objection that in China itis easier than in other countries to be declareda threat to the security of the state, Weijia shar-pened the tone.

He stressed that China has a seat in all im-portant human rights commissions under theUnited Nations, and will comply with their ob-ligations in that respect.

»But I could never understand the approachthat consists in taking your criteria for humanrights in your country and for your people,and impose these criteria for other countries,«Weijia replied.

Promises for the mediaMargita Boström from Sweden and Janet Heino-nen of the USA wanted to know if journalistswould be allowed to work freely during theOlympics - and if this would mean general im-provements for journalists working in China.

As for the last point, Sun Weijia would onlyconfirm that, in the interests of security, travel-lers must indeed inform authorities of theirdestination.

However, foreign as well as Chinese me-dia would have the best conditions duringthe Games.

"The working conditions will be the same oreven better than in previous games in other co-untries. This includes the freedom of movementand the freedom of reporting," Weijia promised.

Professor John Hoberman of the USA refer-red to China's use of the public executions andasked if the selling of the executed prisoner's or-gans to foreign patients was legal in China.

Weijia stated with all clarity that it was illegal,but questioned the validity of the information.

Also, he did not feel competent to say if Chi-na's use of the death penalty would be chan-ged before 2008.

With that, the session drew to a close. Con-ference coordinator Jens Sejer Andersen than-ked the vice-director by saying:

»This readiness for unrestricted dialogue po-ints to two things: the great professionalism ofthe Chinese organisers in the preparation of theOlympic Games 2008 and the hope that these ga-mes will be a part of a mutual learning process.«

The official website for the Olympic Games in Beijing is www.beijing-2008.org

The organisers of the Olympic Games in 2008 contributed to anunrestricted debate and a mutual learning process

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