Toronto Star: China's Olympic Angst

"Whether or not these Olympics will go off smoothly is still hanging in the air," says Sharon Hom, head of Human Rights in China, a New York-based group formed in March 1989, "during a moment of hope" she adds.

The challenge for China—less than five months before the August Games—is not just Tibet, she observes. Tibet has riveted the world, but a "volatile mix" of issues that includes degradation of the environment, the battle for free speech and the detention of petitioners.

"All of this is coming to a head," says Hom, who has spent years teaching in China.

• HRIC Campaign:
  Incorporating Responsibility 2008 Take Action Campaign
  
  
• HRIC Press Statement:
  Five-Year Sentence of Olympics Critic Not Human Rights Progress
  
  
• China Rights Forum No. 1, 2008:
  One Slogan, Many Meanings: Bring Tibet to the 2008 Games
  
  
• HRIC Press Advisory:
  Petitioners Face Ongoing Abuse
  
  
• HRIC Trends Bulletin:
  Olympics and The Rule of Law: Lawyers in China
  
  
• HRIC Press Advisory:
  With Six-Month Olympic Countdown Looming, HRIC Calls on China to Release Chen Guangcheng
  
  
• HRIC Press Advisory:
  HRIC Launches 2008 Take Action Website and Calls on China to Release Shi Tao
  
  
• China Rights Forum No. 4, 2007:
  The Real Situation in Pre-Olympics China - Teng Biao and Hu Jia give their views about the situation on the ground in the countdown to the Olympics.
  
  
• China Rights Forum No. 3, 2007:
  2008 and Beyond - Articles, interviews, resource list, and campaign information focusing on the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
  
  
• China Rights Forum No. 2, 2007:
  Incorporating Responsibility 2008 - FAQ: Foreign Journalists Operating in China During the 2008 Beijing Olympics
  
  
• Human Rights in China, China: Minority Exclusion, Marginalization and Rising Tensions, commissioned by Minority Rights Group International, 2007, http://www.hrichina.org/public/PDFs/MRG-HRIC.China.Report.pdf.