Fact file: Spotlight on China

Some explanation of why - in part, at least - the Beijing Olympic Games attracted unprecedented, global protests.

According to Tibetan authorities the 1949 Chinese invasion and ensuing occupation has resulted in the death of about 1.1 million Tibetans. Free Tibet claims more than 6,000 monasteries, nunneries and temples have been destroyed. The Dalai Lama Samdhong Rinpoche, Tibet's political and spiritual leader, fled Tibet in 1959 to Dharamsala, India, followed by more than 100,000 Tibetans and established the Tibetan Government-in Exile. In 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his dedication to non-violence. Free Tibet says basic freedoms of speech, religion and assembly are strictly limited in Tibet and arbitrary arrests continue. The activist group and Tibetan authorities say there are hundreds of political prisoners currently in Tibet, enduring commonplace torture. The Chinese government describes the invasion as a peaceful liberation of Tibetans from a "feudal serfdom system." Progress: Free Tibet says the United Nations and international community have done "very little" to address the core issue of China's illegal occupation of Tibet. * Free Tibet/http://freetibet.org

China holds a permanent position on the UN security council and, as such, has been able to veto action to halt the mass rape and murder of the African Sudanese population by its own government's forces and state-backed Arab militia. UN council diplomats say China's decision to delay attempts by the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Omar Al Bashir stems from its reluctance to give prominence to its close relationship to Khartoum before the Beijing Olympics. China is one of Sudan's top oil customers and sells arms to the Khartoum government. Progress: According to a UN report earlier this year the situation in Sudan is "still grave" but an arrest warrant has been issued for the country's leader, Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Reuters reported that attempts to strengthen the joint UN/African Union force in the region is still being thwarted by China and Russia. * Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/ * United Nations: http://www.un.org/

China officially executes more people than any other country for about 68 offences, including non-violent crime. Liu Renwen, a Chinese criminal law professor, estimated in 2006 that 8,000 executions take place annually in China. According to Amnesty International the death penalty is used extensively, arbitrarily, and often as a result of political interference. In 2005 China's vice minister of health reportedly acknowledged the majority of organs for transplant in China come from executed prisoners. Progress: Last year Chinese medical officials agreed not to transplant organs from prisoners, except into members of their immediate family. Amnesty International says it's impossible to identify whether consent has been given by prisoners to remove and sell their organs. * Amnesty International: http://www.amnesty.org/

According to Amnesty International this refers to petty criminals, peaceful protesters, critics of the government or followers of 'banned beliefs' such as peaceful spiritual or religious. Amnesty adds that some people found innocent of a crime and acquitted by the courts have been immediately detained by the police and sent to 'Re-education Though Labour'. The group also says that if a person appeals against the action it is common for their period of detention to be extended and it puts them at greater risk of beatings, torture and ill-treatment. Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to be held in inhumane conditions in Re-education through Labour facilities across China according to the group. Progress: According to Chinese media the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress were due to discuss the new law proposed to replace Re-education Through Labour - the illegal Behaviour Correction Law in October 2007. However the law has not yet been passed. * Amnesty International: http://www.amnesty.org/

Amnesty International states the Chinese government conducts the arbitrary detention, intimidation and harassment of activists and human rights defenders. It also points out there is not the freedom to highlight issues of legitimate concern, including via media, without the fear of penalty or harassment. According to the group, human rights defenders in China face serious risk of abuse and activists based across China have suffered from increased abuse as attention focused on Beijing ahead of the Olympics. According to prominent lawyer Mo Shaoping, only 30 per cent of criminal suspects are currently represented by a lawyer in China. Progress: Since Beijing was chosen to host the Olympic Games, Amnesty International says the authorities have taken no measures to reform or abolish articles of the Criminal Law, such as provisions on "inciting subversion" or "leaking state secrets abroad" which are frequently used to detain and imprison human rights defenders and opponents of the government. * Amnesty International: http://www.amnesty.org/

In 2001, when Beijing was chosen to host the 2008 Olympics, the Chinese government promised "no restrictions on media reporting and movement of journalists up to and including the Olympic Games". Amnesty International says China's commitment to "complete media freedom" is compromised by an ongoing crackdown on individual journalists, newspapers and websites that has seen the country branded "the world's leading jailer of journalists" by media freedom organisations. Censorship of websites, blogs and emails is also a major concern to Amnesty, the group adds that internet censorship, run by an estimated 30,000-strong police force and known as the "Golden Shield" or "Great Firewall of China" is believed to be the "most extensive, technologically sophisticated and broad-reaching system of internet filtering in the world". Progress: Amnesty says that while temporary new regulations may give foreign journalists more freedom to conduct interviews in China until October 2008, restrictions to the domestic distribution of their reports and control of the domestic Chinese media have been tightened. * Amnesty International: http://www.amnesty.org/

Forced eviction is occurring around China as corporates demolish houses to make way for developments, people who have lost their homes are forced to live in tents, and face arrest if they protest, according to media reports. In total 1.5 million people were displaced by the time the Beijing Games started, according to the Geneva-based Center on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE). According to Jiang Yu, the spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, just 6,000 families were displaced by preparations for the Olympics Games between 2002 and June 2007. Progress: Some families are seeking compensation to recover a portion of the financial loss accrued. * Amnesty International: http://www.amnesty.org / COHRE: http://www.cohre.org/

There are no laws against animal cruelty in China. According to rights group Swiss Animal Protection (SAP) China is the world 's largest exporter of fur clothing and industry sources claim it is the biggest fur trade production and processing base in the world. SAP reported that at all of the Chinese fur farms it visited, animals were handled roughly and confined to rows of inappropriate, small wire cages. The group said signs of extreme anxiety and pathological behaviours were prominent throughout, and other indicators of poor welfare were evident including high cub mortality and infanticide. Animals are often transported over large distances and under "horrendous" conditions before being hacked up and skinned alive, said SAP observors. According to World Society for the Protection of Animals at farms across China, bears are surgically mutilated and 'milked' each day for their gall bile. The group says these animals "endure the most appalling levels of cruelty and neglect". Progress: SAP says attempts to improve standards at two government-monitored farms in China have not alleviated "even basic animal welfare problems". * Free Tibet: http://www.freetibet.org/ * Amnesty International: http://www.amnesty.org/ * Swiss Animal Protection: http://www.animal-protection.net/ * World Society for the Protection of Animals: http://www.wspa.org.uk/ * Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/ * United Nations: http://www.un.org/