The Chinese Saga of Olympic Shame Continues -- Olympics: Japan Should
Press for Human Rights in Beijing/Human Rights Watch
Olympics: Japan Should Press for Human Rights in Beijing
13 Mar 2008 15:08:23 GMT
Source: Human Rights Watch
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(Tokyo, March 13, 2008) Japanese government officials planning to attend
the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games should address the silencing of dissent
in China and encourage the Chinese government to honor its Olympic
pledges to improve human rights in the context of the Games, Human
Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth
Roth will be in Japan in mid-March to discuss a range of human rights
concerns in Asia. Releasing a letter to Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo
Fukuda, Human Rights Watch strongly urged Japan to promote human
rights and media freedom in advance of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games,
set to open in August 2008. With less than five months until the Games
begin, Human Rights Watch said the human rights climate in China is
deteriorating, and that concerted international attention is required to
convince Beijing to change course.
"Since top government officials will attend the Olympics in China, Japan
should use its leverage to encourage Beijing to improve human rights,"
said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "The
Japanese government's apparent lack of a public strategy to address
Olympic-related human rights issues in China in advance of the Beijing
Games is a concern."
In its January 8 letter to Prime Minister Fukuda, Human Rights Watch
asked:
* What steps Japan is taking to raise its concerns about human
rights abuses related to the 2008 Olympic Games with the Chinese
government, including the exploitation of migrant construction workers
do***ented in Human Rights Watch's new re****t "One Year of My Blood."
What is the strategy of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs for
raising such concerns over the remaining months before the Games open?
* What will the Japanese government do prior to and during the
Olympic Games to ensure that the many Japanese journalists who will go
to Beijing and their international and local translators, facilitators,
photographers and other staff are not detained, harassed or otherwise
abused for taking at face value the Chinese government's commitment to
press freedom?
* What obligations does the Japanese government expect the Japanese
Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee to fulfill
with respect to human rights in China?
Human Rights Watch has called on the Japanese administration to insist
on tangible improvements from the Chinese government. If progress,
particularly on press freedom, is not made, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda
and other senior Japanese officials should consider declining
invitations to attend the opening or closing ceremonies of the Beijing
Games.
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