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| Also listed in: Campus Progress Blog |
International Olympic Committee Chairman Jacques Rogge continues to ignore the facts on the ground surrounding the continued human rights abuses committed by the Chinese government.
As representatives from Reporters Without Borders protested China's human rights violations at the official flame-lighting ceremony in Greece, a Chinese activist was sentences to the maximum five years in prison for writing a letter about human rights in China.
And if that wasn't ironical enough, as if to prove the protesters point, "China state television cut away to a prerecorded scene, blocking millions of Chinese views from watching the tumultuous start to the Games in their nation."
The crackdown in Tibet last week, where over 100 Tibetans have been killed, only underscored how human rights in China have NOT improved since the IOC awarded them the games in 2001. The Chinese government always counters that such episodes are domestic issues and are of no concern to other countries. Yet, when your country is hosting the world's games, then those issues are international issues. When your country supports a Sudanese government that's committing genocide, then that's an international issue.
For more, check out Human Rights Watch, which meticulously documents the continued human rights abuses in China.
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A little more than 50 years ago, China invaded and conquered a small, peaceful country that had not threatened them in any way, and forced its leaders into exile (Tibet). The UN made a few feeble attempts to stop them, but, just like today, the Chinese claimed this was a domestic matter. Ever since, the world has looked away and ignored the issue, for the sake of economic relations.
How much longer will it take for them to put human rights issues over the ecomomy? With all the talk about human rights, maybe the nations of the world need to start walking the walk.
Boycotting the Olympic Games in Beijing would be a good start.