A clear reminder was sent to IOC President Jacques Rogge and the Chinese government by six brave activists at the Great Wall of China with the words "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet" emblazoned across a huge banner. As the one year countdown is upon us, questions still hang over the Beijing Olympics and the IOC. Rogge assured the world in 2002 that if: “human rights are not acted upon [by China] to our satisfaction then we [the IOC] will act.” However with one year to go a report released by Human Rights Watch states “the Chinese government shows no substantive progress in addressing long-standing human rights concerns.” To date the IOC have not followed through with the assertion of five years ago and called the Chinese government to account over their human rights record.

In Tibet the situation for Tibetans becomes steadily worse as the population becomes more and more diluted by a programme of mass immigration of Chinese citizens, increased by the opening last year of the controversial railway linking China to Lhasa. Religious and civil freedoms remain oppressed, and a government-sponsored resettlement programme is forcing many Tibetan nomads from their land. Many political prisoners remain incarcerated, whilst the UN's Special Rapporteur on Torture, Dr Manfred Nowak, states that torture is "consistent and systematic" in Tibet.

In the build-up to the Games the Chinese government have broken their own pledge for media freedom by imposing severe restrictions on journalists in Tibet and Xinjiang. As global media attention increases however, six young activists have shown that they cannot be silenced, and China cannot attempt to shield its human rights record by simply trying to conceal it under a media clampdown and the sheer dazzle and spectacle of the world's biggest sporting event.

The world is watching.