China has been accused of violating the commitment it made to International Olympic Committee (IOC) for ensuring freedom of media, US based human rights watchdog said in its report.
NEW YORK: China has been accused of violating the commitment it made to International Olympic Committee (IOC) for ensuring freedom of media, US based human rights watchdog said in its report.
Beijing will be the host city for Olympics next year and the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said things have not improved even though one year is left for the games.
Beijing is still intimidating, harassing and detaining foreign journalists and their colleagues, HRW said in its report.
In its 40-page report -- "You Will Be Harassed and Detained: Media Freedoms Under Assault in China Ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games" -- HRW documents how Chinese authorities have repeatedly obstructed the work of foreign journalists this year, even though China on January 1 adopted temporary regulations to comply with commitments it made to the IOC.
The report is based on interviews and information provided by 36 foreign and Chinese journalists till June 2007.
"The Chinese government's attempts to intimidate and detain foreign journalists for simply doing their jobs shows contempt for Olympic ideas of fair play," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
"The ongoing harassment and detention of journalists makes Beijing's Olympic pledge on media freedoms seem more like a public relations ploy than a sincere policy initiative."
As part of Beijing's bid for the 2008 Olympics, in 2001 it assured the IOC that the government would ease its traditional chokehold on foreign and local journalists during the Olympic Games in Beijing.
The commitment for media freedom is in line with the obligation of Olympic host cities to comply with Article 51 of the IOC Olympic Charter, which stipulates that the IOC should take "all necessary steps in order to ensure the fullest coverage by the different media and the widest possible audience in the world for the Olympic Games," HRW said in its report.
The Chinese government, as part of its commitment to the IOC, announced new rules for accredited foreign journalists in May 2007 in the "Service Guide for Foreign Media".
Some journalists interviewed by HRW said that the new rules have helped indeed widened their access to certain dissidents and normally media-shy government officials. While some of them were of a contrary view. They said their reporting efforts remain routinely hobbled by government officials, police and plainclothes "thugs" who claim ignorance of the new regulations or willfully flout them.
"The Chinese government still has one year to get this right, but only if officials choose meaningful action over empty rhetoric," said Adams. "The world will be watching to see whether Beijing will live up to its commitments to the International Olympic Committee."
Foreign journalists have most often been harassed, detained and intimidated for pursuing stories deemed sensitive by the Chinese government, including coverage of political dissidents, Tibet, the country's HIV-AIDS epidemic and issues of "social stability" such as riots, demonstrations and their aftermath.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}