Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom - World Press ...

Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom
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The security technology sectors and systems, in large part provided by foreign
corporations, raise serious concerns. The Olympic organizing committee says it will spend
about $300 million on security. And China's security budget is expected to continue to
grow after 2008 at an annual rate of at least 20 per cent (the country is already the
second largest security equipment market in the world, after the United States). China has
not provided transparency and assurances that sophisticated new security systems will not
be deployed to undermine human rights.
Post-Olympics use. Armed with new security technology acquired for the Olympics,
China will have an even greater capacity to monitor and restrict individual rights beyond
2008. There needs to be international scrutiny and discussion to insure that rights
defenders and vulnerable groups, including ethnic minorities and religious practitioners,
will not be exposed to more effective surveillance and repression.
Biometric data collection. As China collects biometric and other information on
foreigners, including the projected 30,000 journalists entering the country for the Games,
what information will this high-tech surveillance collect? How will the biometric information
(including photographs) collected at airports, subways, public spaces, and Olympics
venues be stored and disseminated? What are the safeguards for insuring privacy as well
as freedom of expression? How will these safeguards fit international standards?
Free and open Olympics. “In the preparation for the Games, we will be open in every
aspect to the rest of the country and the whole world. We will draw on the successful
experience of others and follow the international standards and criteria.”
A free and open Olympics must include respect for freedom of expression and the right to
access and disseminate information. These rights must be respected and advanced for
foreign media, athletes, tourists and other visitors - and for all Chinese people. A free and
open Olympics also requires transparency and accountability.
Access for foreign journalists. Despite new regulations for foreign journalists that went
into effect on Jan. 1, 2007, the rules have been routinely flouted by local officials, and the
forced departures of foreign reporters from Tibet raises concerns about media blackouts in
the face of human rights crises.
A survey by the Foreign Correspondents Club of China found that 95 per cent of its
members think reporting conditions in China are still not up to international standards. If
foreign journalists are vulnerable, what can domestic journalists expect?
Media organizations and non-governmental organizations, including Human Rights in
China, have pressed for extension of the sunset date of the foreign news regulations and
for extension to cover domestic journalists. The final leadup to the Games and the Games
themselves provide an excellent opportunity to test the seriousness and effectiveness of
these guarantees.
Greater transparency and accountability. The development of a number of local and
national open government information (OGI) initiatives should be monitored and tested.