Olympic ideal demolished: how forced evictions in China related to the 2008 Olympic Games are violating international law.

(59.) Alsen, supra note 25, at 46; see, e.g., Elisabeth Rosenthal, Factories Wrest Land from China's Farmers, N.Y. TIMES, Mar. 23, 2003, at A8 (highlighting the difficulties farmers face in feeding their families as the Chinese government converts land from farming to industrial uses).

(60.) Theresa Wang, Comment, Trading the People's Homes for the People's Olympics: The Property Regime in China, 15 PAC. RIM L. & POL'Y J. 599, 599 (2006) ("China is undertaking a large-scale urban renewal project with the aim of encouraging private development and new infrastructure.... In Beijing alone, the government has evicted about 300,000 residents from their homes per year, sometimes forcefully, in order for the city to make way for the thirty-eight billion dollar Olympic project." (footnotes omitted)).

(61.) Davis, supra note 8, at 6.

(62.) See Griffiths, supra note 6 (the BBC reporting land disputes in China); Jim Yardley, Olympics Imperil Historic Beijing Neighborhood, N.Y. TIMES, July 12, 2006, at A1 (the New York Times decrying destruction of ancient neighborhoods in Beijing).

(63.) See China: Forced Evictions Spur Protests: China Should Implement New Constitutional Protections for Property Rights, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, Mar. 25, 2004 [hereinafter Forced Evictions Spur Protests], available at http://hrw.org/english]docs/2004/03/22/china8159.htm (Human Rights Watch condemning local Chinese authorities and developers for forcibly evicting hundreds of thousands of homeowners and tenants who have little legal recourse); Will China's Government Uphold the Olympic Ideal?, THE WIRE, Sept. 2005, at 1, available at http://web.amnesty.org/wire/September2005/China (Amnesty International recounting continual human rights violations linked to the government's preparation for the Olympics and questioning whether China will uphold the Olympic ideal).

(64.) Davis, supra note 8, at 6; Forced Evictions Spur Protests, supra note 63; Yardley, supra note 62, at A1 ("The reason for the devastation is the 2008 Olympic Games, which have turned much of the city into a noisy, disjointed construction zone.").

(65.) Int'l Alliance of Inhabitants, Int'l Alerts on Housing Rights Violations, http://www.habitants.org/article/archive/190/(last visited Oct. 14, 2006).

(66.) Rueters, Forced Eviction as China Eyes Olympics, THE NEW ZEALAND HERALD, Nov. 30, 2005, available at http://www.nzherald.co.nz/organisation/story.cfm? o_id=600538&ObjectID=10357669.

(67.) Id.

(68.) Press Release, Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), Zimbabwe, China and the State Government of Maharashtra Cited for Severe Human Rights Violations by Housing Rights Group 17 (Nov. 29, 2005) [hereinafter COHRE] (available at http://www.cohre.org/view_page.php?page_id=138).

(69.) Forced Evictions Spur Protests, supra note 63.

(70.) Davis, supra note 8, at 26.

(71.) Michael Jen-sui, Police Foil Protest at Leaders" Compound, SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, July 2, 2003, at 5.

(72.) Chenglin Liu, Informal Rules, Transaction Costs, and the Failure of the "Takings" Law in China, 29 HASTINGS INT'L & COMP. L. REV. 1, 1 (2006).

(73.) Davis, supra note 8, at 1-2.

(74.) Id. at 27.

(75.) Id. at 23; see Beijing 1204 ren qianming shengming Zhongguo zhengfu zai Ye Guoquiang zisha yi an niezao yaoyan [1204 people sign statement on fabrication of rumor by Chinese government in Ye Guoqiang case], http://www.boxun.com (Nov. 29, 2003).

(76.) Wang Manna, Sanming Beijing chaiqianhu yi bei xingshi juliu mianlin qisu [Three Beijing Relocated Households also by Arrest on Criminal Charge Faced with Prosecution], CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY (China), Oct. 30, 2003.

(77.) Will China's Government Uphold the Olympic Ideal?, supra note 63, at 1.

(78.) Davis, supra note 8, at 26.

(79.) COHRE, supra note 68, at 16.

(80.) Id.

(81.) See, e.g., Will China's Government Uphold the Olympic Ideal?, supra note 63, at 1 (estimating 300,000 have as of March 2004 been evicted from their homes in Beijing in preparation for the Games); Forced Evictions Spur Protests, supra note 63 ("Victims are sometimes evicted by hired thugs or have their homes knocked over by bulldozers while they are asleep in bed...."); OCDC Appeals to 60th UNHCHR and Releases Its 2003 Human Rights Report, Apr. 2004, available at http://www.weijingsheng.org/ reporffreport2004/report2004-04/OCDC040414UNHCHR60A60-09-032.htm (recognizing "[f]orced relocation and violent evictions have erupted throughout China in the last few years" and outlining examples); Theresa Ricci, Forced Demolitions: An Attempt on Man and Culture, Mar. 2, 2004, http://www.asianews.it/dos.php?1=en&dos=10&art=442 (relaying several violent protests and civilian run-ins with police).

(82.) Davis, supra note 8, at 3-4.

(83.) Id. For a recent example of the strict censorship laws in China see Google Censors Itself for China, BBC NEWS, available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4645596.stm (last visited Oct. 14, 2006) (exploring a recent example of the strict censorship laws in China involving the internet and what users do not have access to, including the BBC News site and information on the Falun Gong spiritual movement).

(84.) Human Rights and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing: Media and Internet Censorship, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, available at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/china]beijing08/censorship.htm (last visited Oct. 14, 2006); see Law of the Peoples' Republic of China on Guarding State Secrets (promulgated by the Standing Comm. of the Nat'l People's Cong., Sept. 5, 1988, effective May 1, 1989), ch. II, art. 8 (promulgating a list of secrets that are considered state secrets, including the catch-all "other matters that are classified as state secrets by the state secret-guarding department"); see also Criminal Law of the Peoples' Republic of China (promulgated by the Standing Comm. of the Nat'l People's Congr., July 6, 1979, effective Jan. 1, 1980), ch. I & II, arts. 102-13 (enumerating actions that are considered "crimes of counterrevolution" and "crimes of endangering public security," including propagandizing and inciting).

(85.) Davis, supra note 8, at 3.

(86.) Id. at 6.

(87.) See Chenglin Liu, supra note 72, at 19 ("The Demolition Bureau and the licensed developer are obligated to inform affected residents of the demolition project and offer an explanation of the nature of the project."); see also Davis, supra note 8, at 6 ("The developers ... are required by law to then approach the existing residents at each site ... to advise them of their eviction and negotiate compensation.").

(88.) Chenglin Liu, supra note 72, at 20; see also Davis, supra note 8, at 8 (stating the regulations address "compensation and resettlement, and list[] the factors that should be weighed in determining the amount of compensation").

(89.) Davis, supra note 8, at 8.

(90.) Id.

(91.) Id.

(92.) Id.

(93.) Chenglin Liu, supra note 72, at 15 (explaining further that the major effects of the Guiding Opinions have been to base demolition appraisal values on the current market value of the house rather than the value of the house at the time it was built).

(94.) Davis, supra note 8, at 12.

(95.) Id.

(96.) Id.

(97.) Chenglin Liu, supra note 72, at 19.

(98.) Id.

(99.) Id.; see, e.g., Temporary methods for the implementation of the management of urban residential demolition and eviction in Chengdu city, art. 9 (2001), available at http://www.cin.gov.cn/LAW/place/200201150105.htm (requiring the demolition management department to, within five days of issuing the demolition certificate, publicly announce to the condemnee the scope, duration, and compensation method of demolition).

(100.) Id.

(101.) Davis, supra note 8, at 13.

(102.) Id.; Cheng Gong, Zhi chaiqian zhi tong [Treat the pains of demolition and eviction], SOUTHERN WEEKEND, Dec. 31, 2003, available at http://www.nanfangdaily.com.cn/southnews/zt/zztk/zggs/200312310106.asp.

(103.) Davis, supra note 8, at 13.

(104.) Chenglin Liu, supra note 72, at 15.

(105.) Davis, supra note 8, at 12-13.

(106.) Id.; Wang Xiaoxia, Chaiqian cheng raomin gongcheng, Zhuanjia jianyi tigao buchang biaozhun [Chaiqian has become the harassment to people, Experts suggest raising the compensation standard], CHINA ECONOMIC TIMES, Nov. 12, 2003.

(107.) Chenglin Liu, supra note 72, at 15.

(108.) Id. at 16.

(109.) Davis, supra note 8, at 14.

(110.) Id. at 13.

(111.) Davis, supra note 8, at 15.

(112.) Id. According to national regulations, demolition departments are the only entity that may arbitrate disputes over compensation and resettlement. Chenglin Liu, supra note 72, at 20. The obvious problem is that these departments have already examined and approved the compensation amount and resettlement plan while granting the license to the developer. Id.

(113.) Davis, supra note 8, at 16-17; see also Chenglin Liu, supra note 72, at 23 (noting Chinese courts are not independent and are accountable to corresponding levels of government).

(114.) Davis, supra note 8, at 17 (explaining a judicial injunction blocking demolition pending the outcome of a case is not an option).

(115.) Id.

(116.) Davis, supra note 8, at 8-11. These incidents implicate additional violations of such international human rights as life and security; however, this Comment focuses more narrowly on property rights, as a subset of human rights guaranteed by international law.

(117.) Id. at 8.

(118.) Id. at 8-14.