Beijing has rejected claims that the human rights situation in China has deteriorated in the run-up to its hosting of the Olympic Games.

China's foreign ministry said a report by Amnesty International showed the group had "tainted glasses".

It documents the use of "re-education through labour", the suppression of rights activists and journalists, and the use of arbitrary imprisonment.

But Beijing said people who understood China would not agree with the report.

Foreign ministry spokesman Amnesty International slams China over Olympic promises ...
China complains about Tibetan flag on Czech PM's jacket - press ...
Piracy watchdog calls for greater international cooperation ...
Rice wraps up China visit with trip to earthquake zone ...
AI report says civilians being targeted in Somalia ... Li Jianchao said: "I hope that Amnesty International can take off the tainted glasses they have been wearing for years and see China in a fair and objective way, and do something more constructive."

The China Society for Human Rights Studies, which has links to the government, also dismissed the Amnesty report.

Spokeswoman Xiong Lei told the BBC: "We do feel that we have problems, but we are solving them and the human rights situation is getting better and better."

When it was awarded the Games, China pledged to uphold the values of human dignity associated with the Olympian tradition.

It promised an improvement in human rights, media freedom and better provision in health and education.

But Amnesty's report, entitled The Olympics Countdown: Broken Promises, says the opposite has occurred.

It says Chinese activists have been locked up, people have been made homeless, journalists have been detained, websites blocked, and that the use of labour camps and prison beatings has increased.

"We've seen a deterioration in human rights because of the Olympics," said Roseann Rife, a deputy programme director for Amnesty International.

"Specifically we've seen crackdowns on domestic human rights activists, media censorship and increased use of re-education through labour as a means to clean up Beijing and surrounding areas."

The group names individual activists including Hu Jia, Yang Chunlin and Ye Guozhu as among those who have effectively been silenced by the government in the run-up to the Games.

Mark Allison, China researcher at Amnesty, urged leaders not to forget them.

"We continue to call on world leaders planning to attend the Games to speak out now to prevent the authorities from using their attendance as a tacit endorsement of violations perpetrated in preparation for the Olympics," he said.

Amnesty urged world leaders attending the Games, to speak out.

After some consideration, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has confirmed he will attend the opening ceremony on 8 August, as will US President George W Bush.

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper plan to stay away, while British Prime Minister Gordon Brown - in his capacity of leader of the next Olympics host nation - will attend the closing ceremony only.

(BBC)

<< Back