At the eve of the 2008 Summer Olympics, JD and MLS met in Amsterdam’s own Chinatown, the Nieuwmarkt neighbourhood, to assess the current Olympic spirit with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Chinese authorities.

The Olympic Games were awarded to Beijing in 2001 by the IOC on the condition that the Chinese authorities would improve their human rights record and warrant media freedom, including unfettered internet access. Even though the Chinese Constitution was amended in March 2004 to include the phrase “the State respects and protects human rights”, recent events have proven otherwise.

It has been with great disbelief and sympathy for the Chinese people that JD and MLS have been following the statements by Amnesty International, who report to have seen crackdowns on domestic human rights activists, media censorship and increased use of re-education through labour as a means to clean up Beijing and surrounding areas.

As journalists started arriving in Beijing to cover the Olympics, they found some sites, including news websites and those of human rights groups, were blocked at Olympic media centres.

Miguel Duarte, MLS president stated “Shortly after awarding the Games to Beijing in 2001, Jacques Rogge, President of the IOC, publicly stated that the IOC would act if human rights were not acted upon to their satisfaction. However, the IOC has neglected to follow up on its statements in the run-up to the Games. It looks like both the Chinese regime and the IOC have broken their promises”

Instead of keeping its promises, the IOC entered into dubious negotiations behind closed doors with the Chinese authorities and seemed content with the result as a number of websites that were unobtainable earlier in the week, including Amnesty International's website, became available to journalists. In the meantime, restrictions remain. For instance, the website of the Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned in China, is still blocked.

Floris Kreiken, JD president, added: “It is clearly inexcusable for the IOC to show such clandestine behaviour. Freedom of information and expression are fundamental freedoms that are vital for all humans and therefore no topics for horse trading. We call upon the Dutch national parliament to question prime-minister Balkenende on the role of crown prince Willem-Alexander, Dutch IOC member, in the process.

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The Young Democrats (Dutch: Jonge Democraten; JD) is the social-liberal youth organisation of the Netherlands, founded in 1984 and counts with over 1850 members. Although independent, the Young Democrats are affiliated with the Dutch social-liberal party D66.

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The Liberal Social Movement (or MLS for short) was founded in 2005 and has as objective to promote social liberalism in Portugal. The movement is a platform of individuals who believe that the old left/right dogma make little sense today, and that it is possible to have a different and constructive type of politics in Portugal.