On 26 November, Mr. Pal Schmitt, a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and of the European Parliament, was invited to a hearing of the Subcommittee on Human Rights of the European Parliament to explain the position of the IOC with regard to the situation of human rights in China.

The IOC and human rights in China

Mr. Schmitt explained that the IOC is a sports organisation whose primary responsibility is to guarantee the success of the Olympic Games to be held in Beijing in 2008. He stated that the IOC does not focus on human rights and that this issue is the responsibility of states and international organisations. However, he did confirm that the IOC endorses freedom of expression, freedom of the press and other human rights, and that they must be respected during the Olympic Games. "Nonetheless," he continued, "the first role of the IOC is to support China in hosting successful Olympics," because for the first time the IOC is bringing the Olympic Games to one fifth of the world population and because of the economical and social benefits that they will generate.

Mr. Schmitt also said he sees increasing signs of improvements in the human rights situation in China but recognises that several challenges remain. Nonetheless, he and the IOC are of the opinion that the work that has been done since 2001 towards guaranteeing the right to freely participate in sports is already having a positive impact.  

Mr. Schmitt concluded that "it is better to open a new door than to leave it closed at this point in China's evolution", since the Olympic Games will bring lasting benefits to China and its people long after the Games have been closed.

Criticisms targeting the IOC

In a reaction to Mr. Schmitt's statements, Human Rights Watch expressed the opinion that they did not oppose the hosting of the Olympic Games in Beijing since in theory it offered a chance for the Chinese government to show that their economical progress could go hand in hand with improvements in the human rights situation in the country. However, over the past seven years, since Beijing has been awarded the Olympic Games, Human Rights Watch has not recorded any improvement. On the contrary. Human Rights Watch has witnessed specific human rights violations directly linked to the organization of the Olympic Games: violations of the rights of workers participating in the construction of the Olympic sites, restrictions on the freedom of the media, destruction of residential areas to create space for Olympic projects and use of extrajudicial means such as house arrest to silence dissenting voices.

Human Rights Watch also mentioned two separate cases in which a European media crew was detained for hours, physically abused and forced to hand over their tapes when covering human rights violations outside of Beijing. Unfortunately, this is a common practice in China according to Human Rights Watch. These cases are relevant in the context of the Olympic Games since the IOC had set full and free coverage of the Games as one of the preliminary conditions to the Chinese government. As a result, China introduced a temporary regulation granting full and free coverage of the Games, only valid from 1 January 2007 until 17 October 2008 and only for foreign journalists. Moreover, there is no guarantee that it will be prolonged after October 2008.

According to Human Rights Watch, the IOC's role is indeed not to monitor the human rights situation, but it is time for the organisation to say that "a deal is a deal". "The IOC has put pressure on China to improve environmental conditions in the run up to the Olympics. It should do the same for another black and white commitment China has made. The IOC promised that freedom of the press would be guaranteed in the run up to and during the Olympic Games and should now ensure this right to all reporters, including the Chinese ones."  

Mr. Edward McMillan-Scott, vice-president of the European Parliament, added to this argumentation that article 1 of the IOC Charter refers to fundamental ethical principles and that there exists a precedent in which a country was punished for serious and systematic violations of human rights, i.e. the exclusion of South Africa from the Olympic Games during the rule of the Apartheid regime. Mr. McMillan-Scott consequently stated that it is now time for the IOC to make a statement on China's human rights record.