The Beijing Olympics and Chinese Human Rights Abuses

The motion

That the Parliament notes that the Fundamental Principles of Olympism include the preservation of human dignity and that, just before the Olympics were awarded to China in 2001, Wang Wei, Secretary-General of the official Beijing bid committee, stated, “We will give the media complete freedom to report when they come to China...We are confident that the Games coming to China not only promotes our economy but also enhances all social conditions, including education, health and human rights”; notes that various human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, are of the opinion that, with the detention and torture of journalists and human rights activists and China’s ongoing high but undisclosed number of executions, the human rights situation has deteriorated since 2001; further notes that, although China calls on people not to politicise the Olympics, it boycotted the games itself in 1956 and 1980 for overtly political reasons; agrees with Amnesty International that standing up for human rights is not playing politics and is, in fact, in accord with the spirit of the Olympics, and in that spirit wishes athletes from the West of Scotland and other regions the best of luck in their events in the Beijing Olympics.


No recorded vote on this motion. Most motions are never debated, and many that are debated are agreed without a division. Vote records are published from 2011.

SNP 10 Green 1 LD 1

Party shown is each supporter’s party when the motion was published.

No contribution in the Official Report cites S3M-01793 by reference.