China has a well-documented history of human rights abuses. Many had hoped that it would be forced to clean up its act in the run-up to the Olympics later this year. However, far from taking steps to improve the situation, the Chinese Government actually appears to be clamping down even harder on human rights defenders and activists in an attempt to silence anyone wishing to protest about its dire human rights record.
We are asking you to write a letter of protest to the Chinese Premier:
Premier WEN Jiabao
Guowuyuan
9 Xihuangchenggenbeijie
Beijingshi 100032
People’s Republic of China
and to send a copy to the President of the Olympic Committee:
President Jacques Rogge
International Olympic Committee
Château de Vidy
1007 Lausanne
Switzerland
In your letter you should:
- Express your concerns about the draconian measures used by the Chinese authorities to suppress basic human rights
- Call on the Chinese government to allow independent monitoring by international human rights groups in the run up to, and during, the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and to allow such monitoring to take place throughout the country and without any restrictions
- Demand that China complies with international human rights standards in the future
This article on the Human Rights Watch website gives further details which may be useful when you draft your letter. You may also wish to use aspects of the sample letter below:
*START OF SAMPLE LETTER*
Your Excellency,
As the world’s attention increasingly turns to China in the run-up to the Olympic Games, I wish to express my concern about the reports I have heard of people being forcibly evicted from the areas in and around Beijing to create space for Olympic facilities without any offer of compensation or alternative accommodation. In addition, I am extremely alarmed to hear of the exploitation of the many migrant workers employed on construction projects across Beijing who are not being paid a fair wage, are not allowed to take days off and are being compelled to do dangerous work without adequate safeguards.
These issues appear to be part of a wider pattern of human rights abuses within your country and many of us had hoped that the Chinese authorities would respond to the opportunity of hosting the Olympic Games by taking decisive action to improve its human rights record. To our dismay, the latest reports suggest that the Chinese Government is actually treating domestic human rights defenders even more harshly than before, because it is afraid of having its image tarnished abroad by protesters at home. Personally, I believe that the true damage to China’s image is not being done by protesters such as these, but by the brutal tactics employed by the Chinese Government, which violate basic human rights.
Therefore, I call on your Government to respect the basic human rights standards that are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to allow international human rights groups full access across the country, both during and after the Beijing Olympic Games, so that the human rights situation in China can be both monitored and improved.
Yours respectfully and sincerely
*END OF SAMPLE LETTER*
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