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Mary Robinson
From: Information <info@mail.uyghurinfo.com>
UN Rights Chief Meets Jiang, Calls for UN Pacts Ratification BEIJING, Nov 21 (AFP)
- UN human rights chief Mary Robinson Tuesday urged Chinese President Jiang
Zemin to push forward the ratification of two key UN covenants,
as pressure groups complained China was not being held to account for routine
violations of human rights. Robinson said she expressed concern about the
treatment of the banned Falungong movement, freedom of religion and speech, the
crackdown on the use of the Internet and the rights of migrant workers.
"I still have continuing serious concerns about the need for reform and
opening up in the area of freedom of expression," she told a press
conference after one hour and 40 minutes of talks with Jiang.
The UN rights chief also urged Jiang to give unrestricted access to the UN
rapporteur on torture and she raised the cases of jailed dissidents including
Uighur businesswoman Rebiya Kadeer.
She said she called on China's parliament to ratify the UN covenant on economic,
social and cultural rights and the covenant on civil and political rights.
China signed the economic pact in October 1997 and parliament, the National
People's Congress, has twice debated ratification without following through. The
political pact was signed in 1998 but has yet to be debated by the NPC.
Robinson said Chinese officials stressed during two days of talks they
were committed to ratifying the agreements and that the economic pact
could pass through the NPC as early as February.
"On the Chinese side this is regarded as being significant. They do
want to emphasize their commitment to ratifying the two covenants,"
she said. However Robinson expressed worries about
the passage of the political pact. "I'm a little
concerned when I ask when the process will be brought before the NPC that I'm
told there are
still studies and analyses being done," she said.
Jiang reiterated China's position that sovereignty
takes precedence over human rights and that the task of giving food and
shelter to the country's vast
population had to come first. "China has fortunately found its
own way of promoting
and protecting human rights through summing up its
historical achievements," he told Robinson, according to the official
Xinhua news agency.
The talks followed the signing Monday by Robinson and Chinese Vice Foreign
Minister Wang Guangya of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) under which the
UN promised assistance to help China comply with the two UN pacts.
The agreement, hailed by Robinson as a "very significant move by
China", calls for programs in human rights education, police training on
human rights
issues and the punishment of minor crimes.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said
Tuesday the agreement with the UN proved China's
commitment to human rights and ratification of the
outstanding treaties. "We still believe that there are some problems
with these covenants and I'm confident they will be ratified soon,"
Sun told a regular briefing, without giving any timetable.
Human rights groups say China is currently undertaking the biggest muzzling of
dissent since its 1989 crackdown on the pro-democracy movement, and
they dismissed the newly-signed MOU as toothless.
The New York-based Human Rights in China (HRIC) said the agreement had
been watered down from previous drafts and lacked the substance to bring about
any meaningful change. "The MOU should have
included clear and unequivocal references to international human rights
standards as
the sole basis for addressing human rights issues,"
said Sophia Woodman, HRIC's spokeswoman in Hong
Kong. The workshops, HRIC said, may be
"nothing more than one- shot efforts, with no impact on China's
rights situation." The Hong Kong-based
Information Center for Human Rights
and Democracy in China also blasted the MOU.
"The human rights situation in China is getting worse
... I don't know what real effect this MOU will have," said Frank Lu,
the center's director
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Another report in same
subject From: Mavlan Yasin <MYasin@UniversalCare.com>
Human Rights Groups Say UN Agreement With
China Lacks Substance
BEIJING, Nov 21, 2000 -- (Agence France
Presse) Human rights groups Tuesday criticized an agreement signed by the United
Nations and China, saying it lacked the substance to bring about any meaningful
change in human rights for Chinese
citizens.
The New York-based Human Rights in China (HRIC) said the memorandum of
understanding (MOU) signed by visiting UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights Mary Robinson and China Monday had been
watered-down from a previous draft.
The document is an agreement to allow UN officials to provide technical
assistance to help China comply with two international human rights
covenants that Beijing has signed but not ratified. Under the accord the UN
would provide workshops on human rights education, the police's
understanding of rights and appropriate punishment for minor crimes.
But HRIC said the UN had caved into pressure from China and was allowing human
rights in the country to be judged under different criteria than in any other
country. "The MOU should have included clear and
unequivocal references to international human rights standards as the sole basis
for addressing human rights issues," Sophia Woodman, HRIC's spokeswoman in
Hong Kong, said in a
statement received in Beijing. The
workshops, HRIC said, may be "nothing more than one-shot efforts,
with no impact on China's rights situation."
The statement said the document excludes phrases from an earlier draft
calling for the "promotion and protection of human rights in China"
and the
"harmonization of national law and practice with international human
rights standards." It instead contains a weaker objective of
promoting a "better mutual understanding of human rights issues."
The MOU also deleted a mention calling on China to ratify and implement the two
covenants it signed -- the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy in China
also blasted the MOU as toothless. "The human rights situation
in China is getting worse... I don't know what real effect this MOU will
have," said Frank Lu, the center's director. He said Robinson should
instead pressure China to ratify the covenants, which would then enshrine
international standards into Chinese law and provide legal recourse for
Chinese people whose rights have been violated.
China signed the covenants in 1997 and 1998, but not only has it dragged its
feet on ratifying them, it has failed to publicize their content in the
tightly-controlled media, Lu said. Lu and
HRIC said the UN should also press China to allow its special
rapporteurs to conduct independent assessments of the human rights
violations in China, which Beijing has so far refused to do.
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