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IR2008 Update: Venue Construction
[First printed in China Rights Forum, No.2 2005][1]

Beijing's hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games is the second-largest public works project ever undertaken in China, after the construction of the Three Gorges Dam Project. [2] Any undertaking of this size, requiring major construction projects and infrastructural changes, raises concerns regarding evictions and relocations as well as questions over transparency and accountability relating to the enormous expenditures on those projects.

In the last IR 2008 Update, Promises, Promises, HRIC examined the Beijing Olympic Action Plan, analyzing the promises Beijing made as host of the Olympics and the implementation concerns that had surfaced since the Plan's adoption in 2002. In this issue, HRIC provides an update on the progress of venue construction in Beijing, and outlines suggestions for a progress report by the Beijing Organizing Committee (BOC) to address the human rights issues presented by these construction projects.

The BOC has announced that by the end of 2005, all Olympic venues will have begun construction, and all venues will be completed by 2007.[3] The list below offers a brief update on the state of construction for each of those new projects. The 2008 venues will be located primarily in Beijing, with the venue for sailing events in Qingdao, and football venues in Tianjin, Shenyang, Shanghai and Qinhuangdao. In Beijing, the sites under construction are mainly part of the Olympic Green on the north end of the central axis of the city. Three other sites around the city are in Haidian District in the northwestern part of the city, the Western Community Area in the northern part of the city, and the University Area in the west. Beijing will house 32 venues in total for the Olympics, 19 of which will be newly-constructed (including six temporary sites).[4]

While some venues are simply being renovated, and others are being constructed on commercial property,[5] other sites underway or being prepared for construction are located in formerly residential parts of Beijing. Seven of the venues will be built on the Olympic Green, which was a residential area when preparation for construction began in 2002. At a reception for the BOC in Hong Kong in 2002, Beijing Vice-Mayor Zhang Mao noted that the construction of the Olympic Green was a "land development project involving removal of some houses."[6] The Vice-Mayor noted that at the end of September 2002, more than 90 percent of necessary removals had been completed in that area, and the removals would be finished by the end of that year.[7]

The Center on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) reports that 100,000 households comprising more than 300,000 people had been forcibly evicted for Olympic venue construction by 2004.[8] Beijing officials, however, state that people have been relocated, not evicted, and that people removed for Olympics construction will be compensated.[9] In March 2004, Beijing officials reported that "a total of 6,000 households will be relocated due to the construction of Olympics venues," and that as of that date, 5,000 had been removed.[10] At the same time, however, officials admit that some demolitions of homes and evictions had been conducted illegally, though the official media states that forcible evictions amount to only four out of every 1,000 resettlements.[11] Furthermore, reports suggest that people are not being adequately compensated, and those seeking redress have been unable to do so. In fact, in 2004 courts received instructions not to take up cases seeking compensation.[12]

In planning and carrying out international events, states remain bound to their international human rights obligations. In addition to specific obligations undertaken for an event such as hosting of an international event like the Olympics, the PRC government has related obligations to respect human rights under international treaties it has ratified as well as international principles and it has adhered to, such as the Millennium Development Goals.

As a Party to the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the PRC must enact domestic legislation that protects against forcible evictions, and that strictly control the circumstances under which evictions are carried out.[16] Wherever groups of people are evicted, as is the case in large development projects such as the Olympics, all affected people should be consulted prior to eviction, properly identified, and have the right to adequate compensation for the homes they lose.[14] In March 2005, international human rights experts expressed concern that the PRC has not adequately ensured that evictions comply with these international human rights standards.[15] In their Concluding Observations on the PRC's report this year, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) noted its concern "about the reports of forced evictions and insufficient measures to provide compensation or alternative housing to those who have been removed from their homes in the context of urban development projects," and expressed specific concern over "the number of forced evictions and demolitions that have occurred in anticipation of the 2008 Olympics."[16]

The Olympic Games are also a symbol of peace and international cooperation. In the Millennium Development Declaration, all UN members urged states to support the International Olympic Committee in its efforts to promote peace and human understanding.[17] In order to ensure that the Olympics remain a positive symbol of peace, understanding and positive human development, the various stakeholders in the Olympic Games, including the Chinese government, the International Olympic Committee and the BOC, the business community and in particular those companies that have undertaken venue design and construction contracts, civil society and the international community must take greater steps to ensure that individuals are not being forcibly relocated, and that where forcible relocations have occurred, affected individuals have access to adequate redress.

As most recently noted by the CESCR, the lack of sufficient information has been "an obstacle to effectively examining the situation" of forced evictions and demolitions in anticipation of the 2008 Olympics.[18] In order to ensure transparency and monitoring of abuses, the following information related to venue construction should be made publicly available in a progress report by the Beijing Olympics Committee by the end of 2005:

Site Usage

The progress report should provide a complete accounting of the prior use for each Olympic venue prior to the start of construction, including type of use, the number of people residing on the site, identification of where those people have been relocated and what compensation they received.

Relocations and Evictions

If people were relocated or evicted, the progress report should clearly describe:

	Any consultation with the community, timeframes for these consultations, the process and information presented, whether officials were present, and the results of those consultations;
	The length of time and assistance provided to people during the eviction or relocation process;
	Procedures for carrying out the evictionsor relocations and what provisions were in place to protect against abuses;
	The number of people relocated or evicted reported by site, and the totals of all those relocated or evicted;
	Identification and description of land made available for relocation and whether the relocation sites provided were comparable in distance from the city, available resources and available use (e.g., arable land versus urban apartment) to the sites from which people were relocated; and
	Description of any transitional, temporary or ongoing homelessness resulting from these relocations or evictions, including arrangements made to address that problem.

Compensation

The progress report should describe any compensation mechanism provided, the total resources allocated for compensation and the total compensation paid out to date.

Investigation of Abuses

The progress report should report in detail on any allegations of abuse during evictions or relocations, and the measures taken to address those allegations, including:

	Description of resources provided to investigate allegations of abuse;
	Identification of the public or private employees responsible for abuses;
	Description of the results of the investigations, criminal or other action taken against those responsible for abuse;
	Remedies available to those who lost real or personal property as a result of that abuse, and a complete list of the number of people who sought remedies and the degree to which they were successful; and
	Description of what measures will be put in place to prevent future occurrences of abuse.

//

ENDNOTES

[1] Elizabeth Wickeri, Carolyn Hsu and Stacy Mosher contributed to this article.

[2] Lee & Xu, FAQ, Beijing Olympic Games, http://www.lehmanlaw.com/FAQ/faq/BOG.htm.

[3] Xinhua News Agency, China Daily March 30, 2005.

[4] Beijing Organizing Committee, http://en.beijing-2008.org.

[5] For example, the Qingdao International Marina, in Fushan Bay, is being constructed over the old site of the Beihai Shipyard. International Sailing Federation, Beijing 2008, http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j/~Fnyjk&MenuID=duq0Ghx4,6CtPwJKJTvIJPY7C3V.

[6] Speech by Beijing Vice-Mayor Zhang Mao, Reception for the BOC organized by the HK Chamber of Commerce, October 29, 2002, http://www.chamber.org.hk/info/speech/021029.asp.

[7] Speech by Beijing Vice-Mayor Zhang Mao, Reception for the BOC organized by the HK Chamber of Commerce, October 29, 2002, http://www.chamber.org.hk/info/speech/021029.asp.

[8] Center on Housing Rights and Evictions, August 2004 Newsletter, p. 4.

[9] Chinese Government, report on CTV Television, Inc. Canada AM.

[10] Beijing: Relocation, not Eviction, China Daily, March 11, 2004.

[11] Beijing: Relocation, not Eviction, China Daily, March 11, 2004.

[12] Jane MacCartney, Thousands of homes destroyed to make way for Olympic Tourists, Times Online, May 26, 2005, at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1628199,00.html.

[13] CESCR, General Comment Number 7.

[14] CESCR, General Comment Number 7.

[15] Concluding Observations of the CESCR, People's Republic of China, 34th session, May 13, 2005, People's Republic of China, paragraph 31.

[16] Concluding Observations of the CESCR, People's Republic of China, 34th session, May 13, 2005, People's Republic of China, paragraph 31.

[17] United Nations Millennium Development Declaration, GA Res. 55/2, September 18, 2000.

[18] Concluding Observations of the CESCR, People's Republic of China, 34th session, May 13, 2005, People's Republic of China, paragraph 31.

//