Breaking news:

Overnight on 7 Dec, Associated Press reported that a Darfuri rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement, has attacked an army garrison in a Chinese-run oil field in central Sudan. Spokesman Khalil Ibrahim said "we are doing these attacks because China is trading petroleum for our blood. We are calling on the international community to help us keep China out of Sudan."

Most of the conversations on the Amnesty International China campaign page have naturally enough looked at human rights in China. But as China's economy expands, its level of influence over human rights all over the world is increasing. The Beijing Olympics will be shining a light on human rights not just in China but in other countries where China has a substantial influence. Sudan is a prime example.

Sudan and China, partners in oil, arms and more:

As most would know, the Darfur region in western Sudan has seen horrendous human rights violations since early 2003 by the Sudanese government, government-backed Janjawid militias and armed opposition groups. These abuses include the killing of an estimated 200,000 people, and displacement of 2.5 million civilians since the conflict began.

How has the Sudanese Government been allowed to let the conflict escalate given criticism from most of the world? One country has vetoed most efforts at the United Nations to address the Darfuri crisis: China.

Sudan happens to have plentiful supplies of oil, and Chinese company CNPC is very keen to exploit them to serve a voracious demand for energy from Chinas booming economy and 1.3 billion people. CNPC invested in Sudan from 1996, and subsequently built a 1500-kilometre pipeline from Khartoum to the Red Sea, providing China with its first large overseas oilfield. Read more on CNPC and the Olympics

Links between China and Sudan go well beyond oil. China is also the largest supplier of weapons and aircraft to Sudan, providing more than twice as much as the next major supplier, Russia. Chinese banks willingly provide loans to a government many Western financial institutions would prefer to avoid.

The role of major Olympic sponsors:

The line of influence to the Sudanese Government does not stop at Beijing. Major Western sponsors of the Beijing Games are themselves under pressure to do more to push China to help the people of Darfur.

The US-based Dream for Darfur campaign has just released a "report card" rating the performance of Olympic sponsors on asking China to take a stand for Darfur. Sixteen of the 19 sponsors received a failing grade, including major consumer brands like Visa, Coca-Cola, Kodak, Panasonic and Microsoft. The major Australian company sponsoring the Olympics, BHP-Billiton, received an F, the lowest grade. General Electric scored best, with a C+ rating reflecting its contribution to humanitarian causes in Darfur and its engagement with the International Olympic Committee on the topic. The campaign's 70-page report, entitled "And Now ... Not a Word from Our Sponsors", is able to be downloaded at the address below.

As the world economy globalises, individual national economies become more inter-connected. Individual companies become more dependent on consumer opinion in far-flung countries. This provides us with opportunities to campaign on human rights where there may have been none in the past.

The Chinese have already played an important, positive role in persuading the Sudanese Government to accept UN Resolution 1769, which in July 2007 authorised deployment of a 26,000-person joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur. It seems clear that criticism of China's stance played a role here. Well-known film director Steven Spielberg, for example, threatened to resign as Artistic Advisor to the Beijing Games if China did not act on Darfur. Chinas new-found willingness to engage the Sudanese is a change from its previous approach, which has been to describe Darfur as an "internal matter" for Sudan and refuse to intervene.

Amnesty International has called and continues to calling on all governments to take immediate concrete steps to suspend all transfers of arms and related logistical and security supplies that are being used for grave human rights violations in Sudan. Isn't it time we recognised that Western companies and consumers have a role to play in making this happen?

The experience of Darfur shows that if diplomatic efforts are good, following the money is better. Sudan needs China to supply it with arms, buy its oil and protect it at the UN. China needs a successful Beijing Olympics to increase its standing on the world stage. Western Olympics sponsors need affluent consumers to keep buying their products. As a result, in an indirect fashion, we all have a role to play in helping change happen to improve the human rights position in Darfur.

Further reading:

Darfur Australia, Dream for Darfur , Amnesty International paper on the arms trade in Sudan from China.