China must honour pledge before Games

On April 30, 100 days before the Beijing Olympics, I moved a motion debate in the Legislative Council about human rights in China and the right of Hong Kong Chinese to enter the mainland. It was voted down by pro-Beijing legislators.

In the motion, I urged the central government to honour its pledge, made in 2001 when bidding to host the Games, to improve human rights and develop democracy.

China's appalling human rights record is a matter of concern in the international community. A small breakthrough took place in October 1998, when China signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). But, 10 years later, it has not been ratified.

Hosting the Olympics should be an occasion for China to showcase itself as a freedom-loving, prosperous and confident nation. However, the disturbances in Tibet and the protests that dogged the Olympic torch relay have become a public-relations disaster.

The protests that marred the Olympic torch relay alarmed the International Olympics Committee. The IOC chairman, Jacques Rogge, warned on April 11 that the Olympics was in a crisis and urged China to honour the human rights undertakings it had made. However, he was rebuked by Foreign Ministry officials, who told him not to link politics with the Olympics. Regrettably, it was China which did this, in 2001, but has now conveniently chosen to ignore it. This is why I felt the need to move the motion debate in Legco.

The growing number of prisoners of conscience provides powerful evidence that human rights have deteriorated in China. They have been punished because they insisted on exercising their freedom of expression. Many of them, including writers, journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders and workers, have been found guilty of inciting subversion against the state, an offence which criminalises free speech.

The Dui Hua Foundation, which has secured the release of a number of prisoners of conscience, estimates there are about 15,000 political prisoners on the mainland.

The China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group, of which I am vice-chairman, has been demanding the immediate release of Guangdong legal activist Guo Feixiong , blind Shandong legal activist Chen Guangcheng , Sichuan labour lawyer Wang Sen, and Beijing human rights activist Hu Jia .

We also called on the mainland authorities to release Beijing human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng and Shanghai human rights lawyer Zheng Enchong from house arrest and to stop persecuting them and their families.

Faced with the outcry over the Olympic torch relay, China must address the problem of human rights violations seriously. I welcome the meeting between Beijing officials and representatives of the Dalai Lama. Before the Games opens, I hope the Chinese government will ratify the ICCPR, release political prisoners and allow Hong Kong pro-democracy activists to visit the mainland.

Emily Lau Wai-hing is a legislative councillor for The Frontier