Olympic Games Cause Of Major Displacement, Says Rights Group

"Some 1.5 million Chinese have been forced from their homes during preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, a rights group said Tuesday.

China rejected the figures from the Geneva-based Center on Housing Rights and Evictions as "groundless" and said some 6,000 families had been compensated and properly resettled.

Our research shows that little has changed since 1988 when 720,000 people were forcibly displaced in Seoul, South Korea, in preparation for the Summer Olympic Games," said Jean du Plessis, COHRE's executive director. "It is shocking and entirely unacceptable that 1.25 million people have already been displaced in Beijing, in preparation for the 2008 Games, in flagrant violation of their right to adequate housing."

"IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies told The Associated Press that the study "touches upon a very important subject," and that the IOC planned to attend a COHRE workshop addressing the issue June 14-15.

"We'd like to get a better understanding of the issues and see what international norms and UN standards exist that could serve as guidelines for governments in the future," Davies said.

The three-year study covered seven past and future Olympic host cities _ Seoul, Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, Athens, Beijing and London."