Boycott Beijing 2008 Olympics
- par: Preston W. Pratt, Jr.
- destinataire: Louise Arbour, High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations
In 2001, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded China the 2008 Olympic Games to take place in Beijing. The IOC reasoned that this move would improve human rights in China and therefore Tibet. China has of yet to work toward a genuine solution for Tibet. China continues to illegally occupy Tibet, suppressing fundamental human rights of the Tibetan people.
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the six year-old boy whom His Holiness The Dalai Lama identified as one of Tibet's most important religious figures, disappeared in 1995. China refused to recognize the child as the 11th Panchen Lama. In 1996, suspicions that the child and his family were kidnapped, were confirmed. China admitted to the UN Commissioner on the Rights of the Child, that the child and his family were being held in "Protective Custody," and his whereabouts have since been unconfirmed. No appeal to gain access to him has been granted.
Dear High Commissioner Louise Arbour:
I would like to express my disgust and disappointment with the IOC's decision to allow China the right to host the world's most prestigious sporting event, the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Given the massive human rights violations, it seems unacceptable to allow this. As the 2008 Games approach us, very little has been done by the Chinese government to improve these violations. The 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, continues to be held, his whereabouts unknown and all appeals to gain access to him by the international community being denied.
I hereby ask you to publicly express your disagreement with the IOC decision, and ask that you support a boycott of the Beijing Olympics by all members of the United Nations.
