GfbV welcomes call for boycott of the Olympic Opening Ceremony

The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) welcomes the call of the European Parliament today to all EU countries not to take part in the Opening Ceremony for the Olympic Games in Peking on 8th August 2008. „The absence of leading politicians of European countries would set a clear signal for human rights and make it clear to the Chinese leaders that the international community is not prepared to ignore the persecution of Tibetans and Uighurs”, said the GfbV Asia correspondent, Ulrich Delius.

The GfbV was the first organisation in Germany to call on 18th March 2008 on leading German politicians not to travel to Peking for the Celebrations. After thinking the matter over for ten days Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier finally declared on 28th March that neither the German government nor the German President had intended to attend the Ceremony. Steinmeier’s statement was a surprise in the light of the attempts of his ministry to improve the German-Chinese relations, which had become rather strained. Many people had expected that like in Athens 2004 at least the President would travel to the Chinese capital as one of the six most important medal-winning nations for the opening of the Games.

Meanwhile the call for non-attendance from this ceremony is being supported not only by the Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu and the US actor Richard Gere, but also by the US politician Hillary Clinton. Several European countries have announced that they are considering not taking part.