When dealing with dictatorships democracies have to choose among appeasement, opposition, or engagement. Generally, the choice is to engage, and this is the approach taken with China in awarding it the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.
Beijing Olympics Touted as Hope for Change
In 2001, China was awarded the right to host the summer Olympic Games in 2008. Human rights activists were not happy because China had, at the time, a terrible record for abusing its own citizens and those of Tibet, which it invaded and occupied in 1950. Others said it was a golden opportunity to open China up to the rest of the world, and, in making its bid for the Games China had promised to improve its human rights situation.
The early signs were not promising.
Outbreak of Violence in Tibet
As the world’s attention became more focussed on China in the run-up to the Olympic Games, protests erupted in Tibet. Beijing clamped down sternly to stop the anti-Chinese demonstrations from disrupting the public relations push surrounding its Olympic torch relay.
In June 2008, Amnesty International reported that, “Based on official public statements over 1,000 individuals remain in detention without reported charges or trials following on-going protests since the unrest began. According to credible reports from Tibetan organizations and the media, protesters have suffered torture or other ill-treatment in detention or have been injured or died from excessive use of force by security forces.”
China reported that 21 people died while the Tibetan Government in Exile said the number of dead topped 200.
Amnesty International Monitors Chinese Human Rights
As the Summer Olympics drew closer Amnesty International said it was going to monitor China’s efforts to improve its human rights observances. Following the Games, the human rights group issued its report card:
- Executions. China still executes more people than any other country in the world. “The death penalty and the conditions on death row in China are an affront to human dignity,” says Amnesty. “No one sentenced to death receives a fair trial in accordance with international human rights standards.” On the plus side, there has been a drop in the number of executions since “the Supreme People’s Court review for all death sentences was restored in January 2007.”
- Activists. “As the Olympics approached, human rights activists in China faced serious risk of abuse. Several activists in Beijing had experienced growing harassment and surveillance, while abuse of activists across China was also on the rise.” The families of activists also were given a hard time by authorities.
- Censorship. When it was awarded the Olympics the Chinese government promised “no restrictions on media reporting and movement of journalists up to and including the Olympic Games.” However, Amnesty reported on “an ongoing crackdown on individual journalists, newspapers, and websites that has seen the country branded ‘the world’s leading jailer of journalists’ by media freedom organizations.” There is an estimated force of 30,000 people tasked with filtering Internet content.
- Trials. “In May 2006, Beijing extended use of a system of detention without trial called Re-education through Labour, to ‘clean up’ the city’s image before the Olympics.” People picked up in this way can be held for up to four years and are “forced to work for long hours, similar to compulsory labour in prisons.”
Not exactly a glowing report; a “D” at best, more likely a “D-”. Certainly, a failing grade.
New Human Rights Protection for Chinese Citizens
However, perhaps all the media focus on China and its human rights record has had an effect. On 13 April 2009, the country’s cabinet released what it called China’s first national human rights action plan.
According to Keith Bradsher writing in The New York Times (April 14, 2009), “The two-year plan promises the right to a fair trial, the right to participate in government decisions, and the right to learn about and question government policies. It calls for measures to discourage torture, such as requiring interrogation rooms to be designed to physically separate interrogators from the accused…”
This doesn’t represent a total clean-up of China’s murky internal security system, but it does mark a step or two in the right direction.
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