As the 2008 Olympics approach, Amnesty International is monitoring the Chinese government's performance particularly closely in areas with a direct link to preparations for the Olympics, to core principles in the Olympic Charter and to promises of human rights improvements made by Chinese officials at the awarding of the 2008 Olympics to China in 2001.

While some positive developments have been noted on human rights in China in recent years, for example in application of the death penalty, serious human rights violations continue to be reported across the country, fuelling instability and discontent. Some of the most worrying trends include:

• the continuing use of the death penalty and abusive forms of administrative detention,

• the arbitrary detention, imprisonment, torture and harassment of human rights defenders, including journalists and lawyers, and

• restrictions on freedom of expression, including the censorship of the Internet.

Ahead of the IOC executive board meeting 10th to 12th December, Amnesty International wrote to the IOC and a number of national Olympic Committees, setting out that while human rights reforms are the primary responsibility of the Chinese authorities, the IOC can still make a significant contribution by using its influence to bring about positive change. According to the Olympic Charter, the IOC has a role in promoting a positive Olympic legacy for the cities and countries hosting the Games.

The philosophy of the Olympic Movement is laid out most clearly in The Fundamental Principles of Olympism, which form par of the Olympic Charter. These Principles stress the importance of "universal fundamental ethical principles" and "the preservation of human dignity" to the Olympic spirit. In addition, the President of the IOC, Dr Jacques Rogge has publicly stated that "We are convinced that the Olympic Games will improve human rights in China."

Although it is too simplistic to say that the human rights situation in China is worse as a result of Beijing having been awarded the 2008 Olympics, it is certainly true to say that China has not made substantial improvements in the field of human rights as a result of hosting the Olympic Games.

It is also undoubtedly true that the international community – including the IOC - could make more of the 'hook' that the Beijing 2008 Olympics provides as in calling for progress on human rights.

Indeed, Amnesty International is monitoring the cases of a number of human rights defenders whose activities, and the way in which they are being treated by the Chinese authorities, have a direct link to the Olympics. These cases underscore the urgent need for action on the human rights situation in China in the lead up to the Games. These include:

• On 10 October Wang Ling was assigned to 15 months 'Re-education Through Labour' for signing petitions and preparing banners in protest against the demolition of her property for Olympic construction projects. Beaten, detained and imprisoned on numerous occasions, Wang Ling is currently being held at Daxing Re-education Through Labour Facility in Beijing.

• Yang Chunlin was detained and reportedly tortured for his involvement in a petition "We Want Human Rights, not the Olympics" signed by farmers protesting against the confiscation of their land. Since his detention in July Yang Chunlin has reportedly on numerous occasions had his arms and legs stretched and chained to the four corners of an iron bed and then left to eat, drink and defecate in that position. He is still in detention.

• Housing rights activist, Ye Guozhu, is serving a four-year sentence after he applied for permission to hold a demonstration about forced evictions in Beijing. His home and business were demolished as a result of Olympics-related construction and his family received no compensation. He has reportedly been tortured in prison. Ye Mingjun and Ye Guoqiang, son and brother of Ye Guozhu, were detained by Beijing police on suspicion of "inciting subversion" at the end of September 2007 because they had protested against forced evictions reportedly carried out to clear space for construction for the Beijing Olympics. At the end of October Ye Mingjun was released on bail and now awaits trial. Ye Guoqiang is still in detention.

These detainees must be released immediately and unconditionally. The reports of torture must be investigated and anyone found to be responsible must be brought to justice and those abused must receive reparation.

But genuine progress on human rights means going beyond dealing properly with individual cases where human rights are abused. The progress that is needed in China means tackling systems to safeguard against endemic abuses continuing into the future. The Chinese government should cease arbitrary detention, intimidation or harassment of activists who are not formally detained or imprisoned, but kept under tight police surveillance, often as prisoners in their own homes.

In light of China's long declared intention to ratify the ICCPR in the near future, this is a concrete and uncontroversial step forward that it must be pushed to take ahead of the 2008 Olympics.

In line with official statements that China's end goal is complete abolition of the death penalty, the Chinese authorities should remove non-violent crimes, including economic and drug-related offences, from the scope of the death penalty pending full abolition of the death penalty in law. Greater transparency must also be brought into the death penalty system, both through ensuring that families and lawyers of those sentenced to death are given access to them as well as administrative and procedural information about their cases, and by publishing data on the application of the death penalty nationwide. Following recent official statements that death sentences and executions have declined with the introduction of SPC review, the Chinese government should publish full national statistics on the application of the death penalty for 2007, and should continue to do so in the future.

In order to address abuses of the right to fair trial and bring detention practice into line with the ICCPR, the use of penalties such as re-education through labour and enforced drug rehabilitation should be abolished, and in the meantime, the increasing use by the Beijing police of such forms of detention without trial as a method of 'cleaning-up' the city in the build-up to and during the Olympics must stop.

Finally, greater reporting freedom for foreign journalists in China during the Olympics is often cited as one example of an improvement in the human rights situation in China as a result of the Olympics. But to represent genuine progress, this cannot be time limit, must apply to Chinese journalists as well as foreign ones, and must allow reporters freedom of movement throughout China. The authorities should cease the unwarranted censorship of broadcast, print and online media in China and take urgent measures to prevent the arbitrary detention, harassment or unfair dismissal of reporters and journalists in violation of their rights to freedom of expression.