China: IOC bezwijkt voor Chinese vraag om internetcensuur
"Het Internationaal Olympisch Comité en het Organiserend Comité van de Olympische Spelen in Peking moeten hun engagement voor volledige persvrijheid vervullen en onmiddellijk volledige internettoegang voorzien in het Olympisch perscentrum. Internetcensuur op de Spelen betekent een afbreuk aan fundamentele mensenrechten en de Olympische waarden," zegt Mark Allison, onderzoeker van Amnesty International.
The organisation was reacting to statements by Kevin Gosper, International Olympic Committee (IOC) press commission chair, saying "I regret that it now appears BOCOG has announced that there will be limitations on website access during Games time (...). I also now understand that some IOC officials negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked on the basis they were not considered Games related."
Foreign journalists working from the Olympics press centre in Beijing are unable to access the Amnesty International website. A number of other websites are also reported to have been blocked.
The IOC has on many occasions highlighted the loosening of restrictions on foreign media in China as an example of the promised improvement in human rights by the Chinese authorities through the hosting of the Olympics. On 1 April, Kevin Gosper said that the continued blocking of some websites would "reflect very poorly" on the hosts. On 17 July Jacques Rogge, IOC President, said "there will be no censorship of the internet."
"This blatant media censorship adds one more broken promise that undermines the claim that the Games would help improve human rights in China," said Mark Allison.
On Monday 29 July, Amnesty International published the report "Olympic Countdown: Broken Promises" which evaluates the performance of the Chinese authorities in four areas related to the core values of the Olympics: persecution of human rights activists, detention without trial, censorship and the death penalty. They all relate to the 'core values' of 'human dignity' and 'respect for universal fundamental ethical principles' in the Olympic Charter. The new report showed there has been little progress towards fulfilling the Chinese authorities' promise to improve human rights, but rather continued deterioration in key areas.
Debatteer mee over censuur en andere mensenrechtenkwesties in China op Amnesty International's website www.chinadebate.org
