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Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom 98 These efforts introduce the novel presumptions that government information should be made public and that official agencies are obligated to disclose such information upon request. The State Council passed a national OGI regulation that will take effect on May 1, 2008, in time for concerned citizens to request previously undisclosed information on Olympic preparations. Efforts should be made to see whether Olympic-related information such as budget and expenditures and details of the host city contract could be disclosed. People's Olympics. “The Olympic Games will give an impetus to economic development and urban construction and management, and bring about increasing benefits for the people. We will make the preparations for the Olympic Games a process of substantially improving the people's living standard, both materially and culturally.” Inequality has widened in recent years, with growing income disparity between rural and urban residents. Although the Chinese government has spent large amounts on economic development in Beijing, development has been accompanied by forcible evictions and crackdowns. A People's Olympics must advance equitable and sustainable social and economic development for all of China's people, and respect for economic, cultural, and social rights, including religious and cultural integrity. Migrant workers. Although migrant workers provided labor for the construction of Olympic sites, they were discarded after their work was completed and subject to evictions and other tactics aimed at keeping them out of the cities as part of the “Olympics cleanup” campaign. The Ministry of Public Security has demanded that all Chinese cities set up systems by the end of 2009 to track migrants more easily. Ethnic minorities. The “war on terror” continues to be used to justify repression of Uighurs, Tibetans and Mongols. In Beijing, the commoditization of ethnic minorities is evident in their portrayal as pre-modern and exotic at the National Ethnic Minorities Park. With the tense situation in Tibet, will the Olympics be a force for encouraging the Chinese authorities to enter into a dialogue for peaceful resolution and to address the failures of its policies in the so-called autonomous regions? Displacement. The number of people displaced by Olympic-related development in Beijing rose to 1.25 million in early 2007. Another 250,000 are expected to be displaced during 2008. Issues of compensation, relocation, and preservation of neighborhoods will require ongoing international attention. Looking ahead to the 2008 Beijing Olympics and beyond, an investigation of these issues can advance delivery on the host city's promises and legal obligations. With little time remaining before the opening ceremonies, the current time frame to consider these challenging and complex issues is inadequate. The problems that China faces have deep and historic political, legal, and cultural roots. Considering a longer horizon, Liu Jianchao, foreign ministry spokesman, has stated, “The Chinese Government will always be dedicated to improving and protecting human rights, be it prior to, or in the midst of or beyond the Beijing Olympics.”
Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom 99 The Olympics provide an invaluable opportunity to get greater traction on addressing these problems. Additionally, the impact of the 2008 Games on the Olympic movement will extend beyond China, as it affects the real interests of the International Olympic Committee, corporate sponsors, partners, and suppliers and future host cities. The international and domestic media in particular are critical to the effort - the final push - to hold Beijing accountable to its obligations and promises, and to insure successful Games. Resource list: IOC Evaluation Commission report on Beijing's 2001 Bid: http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_299.pdf 2002 Beijing Olympics Action Plan: http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/fcs/pdf/boap.doc IOC web site: http://www.olympic.org/uk/index_uk.asp BOCOG official web site: http://en.beijing2008.ccn/bocog/ Human Rights in China's Take Action Campaign, IR2008 web site: http://www.ir2008.oorg/ Human Rights in China, "2008 and Beyond," China Rights Forum, No. 3, 2007: http://hrichina.org/public/contents/45071 Human Rights in China, "Human Rights: Everyone's Business", China Rights Forum, No. 1, 2008: http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/47993 September 2007 HRIC Open Letter to the IOC, October 2007 Response from the IOC: http://hrichina.org/public/PDFs/CRF.4.2007/CRF-2007-4_Transparency.pdf Minky Worden, ed., China's Great Leap: The Beijing Games and Olympian Human Rights Challenges (Seven Stories Press, forthcoming, May 2008).
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