Amnesty International on Olympic Games

LONDON – With a month to go until the Beijing Olympics start on August 8, Amnesty International published a letter yesterday to China’s President Hu Jintao urging five key improvements on human rights.

“I believe that delivering on these five points will go a long way towards the games being remembered not only for positive achievements on the sports field but in the field of human rights as well,” Amnesty’s secretary-general Irene Khan said in the letter. The steps include releasing all prisoners held for expressing political views, stopping police detaining people during a pre-Olympics “clean-up” and taking action on the death penalty including a moratorium on its use.Khan also calls for journalists to be given full freedom to report the games and says China should account for all those killed or detained during protests against Chinese rule in Tibet in March.She welcomed some steps taken by Chinese authorities on human rights including an official commitment to full media freedom.But she also restated that Amnesty believes the Olympics have had a “negative impact” on human rights in China overall, citing the “clean-up” in Beijing and persecution of rights activists.Nampa-AFPThe steps include releasing all prisoners held for expressing political views, stopping police detaining people during a pre-Olympics “clean-up” and taking action on the death penalty including a moratorium on its use.Khan also calls for journalists to be given full freedom to report the games and says China should account for all those killed or detained during protests against Chinese rule in Tibet in March.She welcomed some steps taken by Chinese authorities on human rights including an official commitment to full media freedom.But she also restated that Amnesty believes the Olympics have had a “negative impact” on human rights in China overall, citing the “clean-up” in Beijing and persecution of rights activists.Nampa-AFP