Amnesty Australia say no to Olympic boycott

The Olympic Torch has left our shores and with it has gone the cries for a boycott of the games. Perhaps as a shock to many, Amnesty International Australia, have also rejected any calls for an Olympic boycott.

Speaking on behalf of Amnesty Australia, Sophie Peer – campaign coordinator, revealed Amnesty does not and has never supported a boycott.

“Amnesty is into positive engagement,” she says. “We are not into shaming China.”

Peer believes the games are a chance to celebrate our athletes and get excited for an amazing event. She says: “Enjoy the games.”

While enjoying the games, Peer, simply asks you to acknowledge the fight for human rights in the country.

As we watch our swimmers dominate the pool take a moment to think “one thousand people are homeless to build that pool,” she says.

The disappointing part for Sophie is that the AOC has chosen to ignore the human rights issue in China.

Peer says that many Olympic Committees around the world have made their athletes aware of what was going on in China, however Australian officials were not cooperating with Amnesty.

“We have just finally been allowed to meet with the Australian Olympic Committee and when we put all of these options to them, their answer was ‘not our role’, on absolutely everything,” she says.

Peer believes it is important for athletes to know what is going on and how to act while in China, as protests are to be expected regarding Tibet as well as China’s “Great Firewall”, censoring Chinese citizens’ access to the Internet.

This censorship is so severe that most Chinese people would believe the torch relay has been a success except for a few western protestors who are trying to destroy the games.

Anything written on the web is strictly monitored by the Chinese Government who dictate what is written. This presents a struggle for journalists.

“You work for the Chinese Government,” Peer says. “No one will tell you what a state secret is but don’t divulge one or you’ll end up in jail.”

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has released guidelines relating to athletes behaviour at the games.

The guidelines allow athletes freedom of expression only if they do not use a t-shirt, badge, banner, sign, gesture or any other outward sign of protest.

“The IOC have chosen to go completely the other way (from condemning China’s human rights violations) and have chosen to deny human rights themselves,” Peer said.

If athletes choose to protest the punishment is severe. “They can take their medal away and kick them out of the games,” Peer says.

This threat is likely more than enough to stop any athletes risking their place in the games for the sake of protest. But would it be worth it?