Last week The Irish Olympic council sent their athletes the Team Members Agreement which stated that selection and continued membership of the Irish Team for the Olympics Games 2008 was conditional upon them signing their agreement. The Irish contract had a specific section pertaining to propaganda and advertising.
This section (7.1) contained Rule 51 of the Olympic charter which states that an athlete can not demonstrate for a political cause at an Olympic site, venue or anywhere during the games.
The Amnesty International report People's Republic of China The Olympics Countdown, makes reference to section 51 and highlights their concerns about such a clause.
Amnesty considers that this provision must not be used as pretext to curtail the fundamental human rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly in Beijing or China at the time of the Games.
They urged the IOC to publicly clarify how it interprets this provision in the context of the right to freedom of expression and publish any guidance it may have issued to NOCs in this regard.
The Irish Olympic council has confirmed they have not received guidance from the IOC about section 51.
The spokesman for the Irish Olympic Council said, "Section 51 has been in all contracts for the past forty years."
The Irish Olympic council took the stance that everything they do is governed by what happens at IOC level and they were just obeying orders. It was up to the IOC to change this rule. In concluded that the Irish Olympic council would be meeting with Amnesty's Colm O'Gorman in the near future to discuss these matters.
GOAL CEO John O'Shea told the Epoch Times, "As a former sportsman and sports journalist, I do not want to see any athlete lose out on the crowning moment of his or her career, but we cannot bury our heads in the sand and allow China brutalise its own people.
"Recall how the Beijing backed Burma junta beat Buddhist pro-democracy protestors off the streets of Rangoon last September, just as Beijing is beating and killing Buddhist demonstrators in Tibet."
When asked what he thought about the IOC rule 51 Mr O'Shea replied, "These are just pieces of paper, they mean nothing they are just a red herring."
He was of the opinion that the Irish government should let the Chinese government know that they are thinking of a full boycott of the Olympic Games.
Mr O'Shea was adamant that if Ireland threatens to boycott the games and if that call gets countries to do likewise, then the regime in China might be pressured to start respecting human rights.
"China will do anything on the planet to keep the games, threatening to boycott is the only arrow we have in our quiver.", he said.
He added "The idea that politics and sport are separate is nonsense. This sporting event represents a once in a lifetime PR bonanza for the dictatorship in Beijing, which matches its repression in China with sponsorship of brutal clients abroad: in Sudan, Burma, North Korea and Zimbabwe."
Amnesty stated in their report that they are concerned with the plight of individual activists and journalists, who have bravely sought to expose ongoing human rights abuses and call on the CCP to address these abuses.
The report also noted that "recent measures taken by the authorities to detain, prosecute and imprison those who raise human rights concerns suggest that, to date, the Olympic Games has failed to act as a catalyst for reform."
Amnesty International has issued a media kit for all journalists going to the Beijing Olympics.
Amnesty suggests if Irish people attending the games witness human rights abuses in China they must first of all act to ensure their own safety and that of their family members. If it is possible to document such violations, without putting yourself or others at risk, Amnesty encourages people to give that information to Amnesty International or other human rights organisations after they have returned home.
"We would encourage people to properly inform themselves on the situation in China ahead of going to the Olympics games and to encourage their government and the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Council of Ireland to take action."