New York: With just over four months remaining in the Beijing Olympics, Amnesty International has urged International Olympic Committee and world leaders to speak out publicly against human rights violations in China.

The "silence" of world leaders and IOC risks being interpreted as "tacit endorsement" of human rights violation "perpetrated by Chinese authorities", the rights group said. Amnesty has also questioned the Chinese government's commitment to improve its human rights record in the run up to the 2008 Olympics, in a report released yesterday by the London-based human rights watchdog.

"The Olympic Games have so far failed to act as a catalyst for reform. Unless urgent steps are taken to redress the situation, a positive human rights legacy for the Beijing Olympics looks increasingly beyond reach," said Secretary General of Amnesty International Irene Khan.

In and around Beijing, the report said, the Chinese authorities have silenced and imprisoned peaceful human rights activists in the pre-Olympics clean up and in Tibet and the surrounding areas, the crackdown on demonstrators has led to serious human rights violations in recent days.

"These actions cast doubt on whether the Chinese authorities are really serious about their commitment to improve human rights in the run up to the Olympics," Khan said. China had promised to improve its human rights records to bag the games but Amnesty says the crackdown on activists has deepened and not lessened because of Olympics.

In the report titled China: The Olympics Countdown, crackdown on activists threaten Olympic legacy , Amnesty called on the Chinese authorities to "immediately" end repressive measures against human rights defenders in China as well as against protesters in Tibet and surrounding areas.

Source : PTI