Carroll Bogert’s Human Rights in Post Olympics China: Has Anything Changed?
Emily Winston, Samantha Laroy / Staff Writers / The USD Vista
Since its origin in ancient Greece, the Olympics have been a place for friendly competition, yet it has also been closely connected to politics. Recently, China has been in the spotlight due to the Olympics held in Beijing. This is important because China’s history of human rights violations has been criticized by activists, politicians and citizens alike. Historically, China has been accused of human rights violations related to their laws and practices of the death penalty, internet censorship, labor laws, torture, religious persecution and policies towards Chinese controlled territories such as Tibet.
On Sept. 17 in a full auditorium at IPJ, human rights activist Carroll Bogert of Human Rights Watch spoke about human rights violations in post-Olympics China. She discussed whether the Olympics had an overall positive or negative effect on the country. Bogert, a former journalist, has been working for Human Rights Watch for nearly a decade. Human Rights Watch is a non-governmental organization whose primary concern is uncovering facts in challenging situations which often involve questioning governments and their officials and investigating alleged human rights abuses.
In 2001 China put in a bid to host the 2008 Olympics after being rejected based on evidence regarding human rights violations in 1993. Each hosting nation must apply and be deemed fit to host the games by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which uses a series of criteria to determine this decision. At that time, China made numerous promises in order to prove they were worthy in the eyes of the IOC.
Bogert discussed the transformation of China from a completely closed society nearly 30 years ago to a country that has seen great economic reform coupled with new personal freedoms. She explained that such radical changes, have not been accompanied by political reform. Throughout this formal discourse, Bogert listed specific human rights violations that occurred as a result of China hosting the Olympics. These include labor abuses like preventing workers from receiving adequate compensation, poor working conditions, forced housing evictions where citizens were removed from their homes and businesses with little or no warning and no compensation, dissident imprisonment, and not to mention the lack of press freedom despite the explicit promises made by the Chinese government to the IOC. The most gripping aspect of these violations were the personal stories Bogert recounted by naming people left homeless or unjustly locked away until the Olympic games were over so they could not protest.
Overall, Bogert found that the Olympics had a negative effect on human rights in China although they have created a potential opportunity for the Chinese government to establish more press and internet freedom. In her concluding remarks, Bogert made several suggestions regarding what can be done in this seemingly corrupt situation. One recommendation she discussed was that the IOC publish the promises countries make so they can be held responsible for their promises if they are not met. A more proactive idea was to reform the IOC so it would be able to adequately address these commitments better. Bogert pointed to the Seoul Olympics in South Korea as an example of a country that benefited from the world’s attention. She stated that the 1988 Seoul Olympics had slowly opened up the country to cosmopolitan ideals and transformed it into a more open nation. Although this process took 20 years, it provides the international community with expectations for China.
The next Olympic games will be held in Russia where several human rights incidents are occurring right now pertaining to the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The Olympics may be the spotlight needed to prevent future human rights violations and bring awareness throughout the international community.