Probe International Fellow Dai Qing, one of 40 prominent Chinese activists and writers, called on Chinese and world leaders last week asking them to respect human rights in the lead up to the Beijing 2008 Olympics on the eve of the one-year countdown to the Games.

“We find no consolation in the rise of grandiose sports facilities, or a temporarily beautified Beijing city, or the prospect of Chinese athletes winning medals,” their August 7 letter said. “We know too well how these glories are built on the ruins of the lives of ordinary people, on the forced removal of urban migrants, and on the sufferings of victims of land-grabbing, forced eviction, exploitation of labour and arbitrary detention.”

The activists requested that China live up to its responsibility as host of the Olympic Games, by:

• Granting amnesty for all prisoners of conscience
• Freedom of the press for foreign and Chinese journalists
• Fair compensation for all those who suffered losses as a result of land seizures and forced displacement to build the Olympic venues and facilities; and
• Fair wages for workers building the Olympic facilities.

Other signatories include Bao Tong, former high-ranking communist party member, Ding Zilin, leader of the China-based Tiananmen Mothers pressure group, and Liu Xiaobo, president of Chinese branch of International PEN. Full text of the letter can be found here.

Dai Qing’s letter was released the same day as Amnesty International’s report accusing China of failing to honour its commitments in the run-up to next year’s Olympic games, and the unfurling by Students for a Free Tibet of a 42-square-metre banner at the Great Wall reading “One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008.” Eight Free Tibet protestors were detained, including three Canadians, all of whom were subsequently released and deported.