Olympics-IOC vigorously defends non-political role in China
03 Apr 2008 11:03:34 GMT Source: Reuters
By Nick Mulvenney BEIJING, April 3 (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee, under fire for not speaking out on China's human rights record before the Beijing Games, vigorously defended its policy of non-involvement in politics on Thursday. IOC member Hein Verbruggen said the implication in an Amnesty International report this week that awarding the 2008 Games to China had made human rights worse was "blatantly untrue". The Dutchman, chairman of the IOC's inspection commission for the Beijing Games, also attacked politicians who talked about boycotting the opening ceremony of the Aug. 8-24 Games after doing big business deals with the Chinese. "We are not a political organisation, so in spite of all the criticism we get, I am not afraid to tell you that we should should not speak out on political issues," he said at a news conference at the end of the final IOC inspection. Amnesty said on Wednesday the Olympics had so far failed to catalyse reform in China and pledges to improve human rights before the Games looked disingenuous after a string of violations in Beijing and a crackdown in Tibet. "To say the Games contribute to a worsening situation in human rights, I would call that blatantly untrue," Verbruggen said. The IOC had earlier released a statement saying it was not its place "to monitor human rights or pressure governments to enact social, economic or political change". "We do not influence -- or even take a stance -- on issues that concern sovereign matters outside of our mandate," it said. "The visibility and symbolism of the Olympic Games shines a spotlight on any host country's activities and draws attention to non-sports-related issues. "Awarding the Olympic Games to China has elevated international dialogue on the situation in Tibet." Verbruggen said involvement in the internal politics of Olympic host countries would lay the Games open to the sort of boycotts that blighted the 1980 Moscow Olympics and 1984 Los Angeles Games. HYPOCRITE POLITICIANS He also said any decision to boycott the opening ceremony, or the Olympics themselves, should be made by athletes and not by politicians. "I have very little admiration for politicians that come here to sign big business contracts and three or four months later say, 'perhaps I won't come to the opening ceremony'," he said. "The athletes have more than enough information to make up their own minds, it's not up to some politician making cheap use of the sport at the same time as signing big business contracts." Wang Wei, secretary-general of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), said he thought the world had been misled over what had happened in Tibet. Days of monk-led marches in Tibet's capital Lhasa turned into a citywide riot on March 14 that saw Chinese shops trashed and burned and cars overturned. The government says the violence killed 18 civilians and at least one police officer. The Tibet government-in-exile says around 140 people died. China warned off activists planning to disrupt the Beijing Olympic torch relay on Thursday, saying they were "saboteurs" bent on spoiling a celebration for the world. The Olympic flame looks likely to be a magnet for anti-Chinese protests, with campaigns aimed at human rights in Tibet and China's links with Sudan and Myanmar."I think these saboteurs are clear about their intentions," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters."Their sabotage of the torch relay, which belongs to the world's people, is a brazen challenge to the Olympic spirit and charter, and to the world's people." (Additional reporting by Karolos Grohmann in Athens and Ian Ransom; Editing by Nick Macfie and Jeremy Laurence) (Take a look at the Countdown to Beijing blog at http://blogs.reuters.com/china)
Protestors burn a two-wheeler owned by a man of Asian origin along the main Kampala-Entebbe road in this April 12, 2007 file photo. From scouting for diamonds in the deserts of ...
