Mr Sanjay Guha

Business Unit President, Great Britain and Ireland

Coca-Cola Great Britain

1 Queen Caroline Street

London

W6 9HQ

Dear Mr Guha

Free Tibet Campaign is writing to urge Coca-Cola to reconsider the non-interventionist position it has so far taken on the brutal crushing of peaceful protest in Tibet.

As a well respected corporation, it cannot benefit your brand to be associated in any way with the ongoing human rights violations in Tibet. Sadly, if the Chinese government goes ahead with its plans to parade the torch through Tibet this month, and Coca-Cola, as a sponsor of the Torch Relay, has voiced no public reservations about this deliberately provocative leg of the relay, that is exactly what will happen.

Although you may not personally be privy to the correspondence, I can assure you that, on 20 March 2008, we warned Coca-Cola’s Chairman Neville Isdell that the torch would be run triumphantly through Tibet at a time when “Tibetans in Lhasa will be mourning their dead and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Tibetans will be languishing in prison for trying to exercise freedom of expression”. We believe that sponsoring this journey through a country which has been brutalised and cut off from the world should leave a bad taste in any company’s mouth.

Ignoring the very real possibility of blood being spilt as a result of the Torch travelling through Tibet, in his 2 April 2008 response Mr Isdell stated that the company had no role in selecting the route and that “dropping out of the Torch Relay or using the event to put political pressure on China would erode the ability of the Olympic Games to make a contribution to lasting change in China”. It is difficult to imagine what lasting change he foresees when the Chinese government is so clearly ignoring global condemnation of its policies in Tibet.

Underscoring our fears, on 9 April 2008, Jampa Phuntsog, China’s governor in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, warned that the authorities expected Tibetans to protest when the torch arrived in Tibet and that "we will deal with these persons severely... We will not be merciful."

Also in early April, it was revealed that a 17 March 2008 internal International Olympic Campaign memo warned members that protests and a violent Chinese crackdown were expected when the torch passed through Tibet. Rather than suggesting intervention, the memo simply advised IOC officials to respond by expressing “deepest sympathies or condolences”.

Free Tibet Campaign and 150 other members of the International Tibet Support Network wrote to Coca-Cola again on 22 April 2008, flagging Jampa Phuntsog’s dire warning and the IOC’s assessment that violence was expected. We made it clear that there was a “direct, tangible link between the ongoing repression in Tibet and the coming of the Olympic Flame, as Chinese authorities clear a path for the Torch Relay, employing the harshest of means”.

So far Coca-Cola (which prides itself on being ‘the longest-standing sponsor of the Olympic Movement’) has failed to voice any concern, let alone take the principled step of withdrawing its sponsorship of the torch relay in Tibet.

Surely this is not in the spirit of the United Nations Global Compact which clearly states that “Businesses should support and respect the protection of international human rights within their sphere of influence” and “should ensure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses”? I’m sure you do not need me to remind you (as it clearly states in your 06/07 Corporate Responsibility Report) that Coca-Cola is a signatory of the Compact?

Coca-Cola may claim that Tibet does not fall within its sphere of influence, but that claim will ring hollow if Coca-Cola’s brand is clearly associated with any Tibetan blood spilt during the Torch Relay’s tortuous progress through Tibetan areas.

If Coca-Cola does not publicly call for an end to the arbitrary detentions and beatings of men, women and children in Tibet - who are simply protesting for their basic human rights to be respected - if it does not denounce and demand an end to the media blackout in Tibet, and if it allows the Chinese government to hijack its brand, along with the Olympic rings and ideals, then we fear the image on the right is how Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of the Torch Relay and the Games themselves will be remembered:

The Torch is due to arrive in Lhasa on 18 or 19 June. Although this issue will, I’m sure, need to be deferred to Atlanta, it is still not too late for Coca-Cola to take a principled stand for the people of Tibet - and with them for the victims of human rights abuses everywhere.

We urge you to do so as soon as possible.

Sincerely

Anne Holmes

Acting Director

Free Tibet Campaign