Bringing the message home to China

One of the main reasons for allowing Beijing to stage the Olympic Games was the hope that it would lead China to improve its human rights situation, writes Tøger Seidenfaden, editor in chief of Politiken newspaper. But China has not played along, he comments: "In 2002, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Jacques Rogge, said that the committee did not intend to hold the event in China if it did not better its human rights record. Those were empty words, and a study carried out by Amnesty International shows that there has been no improvement whatsoever in the key areas. Forced labour and arbitrary imprisonment are the order of the day, for example. We must continuously point out to China that it violates the basic human rights - both at official and unofficial meetings. If the IOC cannot or does not want to deliver this message, then it is up to those who attend the games to do so. Perhaps that would make an impact."

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