In the last twenty years, over two million people world-wide have been evicted because of the Olympic Games. That was the devastating conclusion of the three-year investigation conducted by the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE).

According to the report, entitled "Fair Play for Housing Rights: Mega-Events, Olympic Games and Housing Rights," published on June 5, the Asian states are the number one culprits. 720,000 people were evicted by force from South Korea's capital Seoul ahead of the 1988 Games.

The director of COHRE, Jean du Plessis, said the figure in China was likely to double this: "We're now talking in excess of one million so far and by the time the games begin it'll be a total of about one and a half million."

Modern super power?

China wants to present itself as a modern 21st century super power at the Olympic Games next year. The showcase capital is undergoing massive reconstruction in preparation for the event. And this seems to come hand in hand with forced evictions.

Often accommodation is completely demolished. COHRE is especially critical of the lack of coherent procedures. Notice is usually given very abruptly with no attempt at negotiation, and financial compensation, if there's any at all, is usually too low. So an eviction often means a sudden plunge into poverty for whole families.

But du Plessis says the evictions would have happened anyway as they are regarded as "legitimate" by the Chinese government. "However," he adds, "since the announcement of Beijing, we've had more than a doubling of displacements and we're very worried about it."

Violence

COHRE also reported that the evictions are being carried out with the use of violence and repression. Those who resist are arrested. Ye Guozho for example. In December 2004, he was sentenced to four years in jail for organising protests against the forced evictions.

The Beijing organisation committee of the Olympic Games has not reacted to the report as yet. But a Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Jiang Yu said the figures were exaggerated. Du Plessis was adamant however that the figures were correct:

"In the end we decided to be very conservative and rely on government figures so that we could not be accused of inflating or exaggerating the situation."

There are other indicators that the preparations for the Games are not all above board. Last year, Beijing's vice mayor was arrested on corruption charges. Liu Zhihua was responsible for building the sports facilities and allegedly took bribes worth up to a million euros.