Welcome to BoycottBeijing.eu homepageThis site was created in August 2007 and dedicated to the debate about whether the 27 EU countries should take note of numerous reports about China's human rights record - and boycott the Beijing Olympic Games, which began on August 8 2008.After a series of high profile boycotts by, among others, Prince Charles and Steven Spielberg, an active debate began. In the European Union there was widespread condemnation of the March 2008 crackdown in Tibet.In the event, the EU boycott was maintained by the President of the European Parliament, Dr Hans-Gert Poettering; the President of the European Commission, Jose-Manuel Barroso and the EU's External Affairs Commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner.The Olympic CharterArticle 1 of the Olympic Charter insists on "universal fundamental ethical principles". The IOC's roleThe International Olympic Committee's 1964 ban on South Africa's participation, because of the apartheid policy, set the precedent for its politcal engagement. In 1980, the United States boycotted the Moscow Games because of human rights concerns about the former Soviet Union. In 1987 US president Ronald Reagan threatened to boycott the Seoul Olympics unless the South Korean regime intyroduced democracy: it worked. Many feel that, had the world known of the conditions in pre-war Germany, the 1936 Olympics would not have taken place in Berlin. The situation in China today is far worse.
The Olympic Charter's article 1 requires "universal fundamental ethical principles": these are manifestly absent in China's regime today. About EdwardBoycottBeijing.EU is hosted by Edward McMillan-Scott MEP, a UK Conservative and Vice-President of the European Parliament. McMillan-Scott is the longest-serving member of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee and visited China frequently while he was spokesman on EU-China relations in the 1990s. Here he is pictured in Tiananmen Square.
As founder of the EU's €150 million Democracy and Human Rights Initiative, McMillan-Scott visited China in May 2006 and met former political prisoners, NGOs, diplomats and journalists. All the Chinese were subsequently arrested, imprisoned and in at least three cases, tortured. He believes that there should have been a political boycott of the Beijing Olympics, especially in view of the widespread pre-Olympic crackdown. McMillan-Scott warned of this during a September 2007 speaking tour of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Thailand on religious freedom in Asia.
Edward McMillan-Scott at the Taipei International Symposium on Human Rights in Tibet, 8 September 2007 | BoycottBeijing.eu
Human rights Attorney speaks out against Beijing Olympics
Gao Zhisheng, 'Conscience of China' speaks out on human rights violations in China and argues against holding the Olympics in Beijing. To watch this exclusive interview please click here. ____________________ HUMAN RIGHTS MEP BARRED FROM LONDON OLYMPIC VISIT
As the UK Prime Minister visited the Beijing Olympic site, Edward McMillan-Scott revealed that Downing Street had demanded a copy of his statement calling on Gordon Brown to tackle the Chinese over human rights. ________________________ IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT Olympic Rights for Human Games Conference 15 May 2008
________________________ Edward McMillan-Scott: Power of the sports boycott - Yorkshire Post THE Government wants it both ways on sport boycotts. It is trying to ban Zimbabwe's cricket team from a UK tour but wants to hang on to Zimbabwe – and other sympathetic African countries especially South Africa – for the 2012 London Olympics. Unlike sanctions, boycotts work and yes, sport, politics and religion are inevitably mixed.
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