Taipei, Feb. 22 (CNA) An international human rights torch relay that seeks to end all human rights abuses in China will make its way into the Olympic host country through text messages, flying balloons and e-mails, a human rights group announced Friday.
Launched by the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China (CIPFG) , the international relay has traveled to 26 countries and 80 cities around the world since the torch was lit in Athens, Greece on Aug.9, 2007.
The group has now decided to take it one step further by entering China.
"At this crucial time when the eyes of the world are on Beijing and in response to the strong demand by the Chinese people to further expose the tyranny of the CCP and to improve the increasingly poor human rights situation in China, the 'Human Rights Torch' will enter mainland China at the end of March 2008, " it said in a statement.
It called for all Chinese who are against dictatorship and for the pursuit of freedom to participate in an alternative and creative form of torch relay from the end of March to the end of the Olympic Games in August.
Considering the safety of the participants, the China leg of the torch relay will not be a traditional run. Instead, participants can distribute a relay logo through e-mails, text messages, e-cards, and blog entries.
They can also hand out T-shirts or baseball caps printed with the slogan "The same world, the same human rights" on them, or play the relay's theme song using multimedia devices in public spaces.
Participants can also write messages on bills, important buildings and facilities, and even a flying balloon.
CIPFG, the main organizer of a two-day international forum on the human rights situation in China and the 2008 Olympics, also released a joint statement Friday, urging the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to request the host Chinese Olympic National Committee to adhere to the Fundamental Principles of Olympism and ensure respect for equal rights for all to participate in the 2008 Olympic Games.