China Post: PRC human rights see little progress: U.S. commission (excerpted)

Chris Cockel

2003/10/4

TAIPEI, Taiwan, The China Post, Washington D.C.

Human rights conditions in mainland China over the past year overall have not improved, according to the Annual Report released by the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) in Washington on Thursday.

"The Chinese government continues to violate China's own constitution and laws and international norms and standards protecting human rights," states the commission's 114-page report, approved by a vote of 21-1.

While the commission reports that "some developments" are underway in the area of legal reform in mainland China, "these changes have been incremental, and their overall impact has been limited."

The CECC, made up of nine U.S. Senators, nine members of the House of Representatives and five senior administration officials, appointed by the U.S. president, was created by Congress in October 2000 with the legislative mandate to monitor human rights and the development of the rule of law in China.

Since the release of the commission's inaugural report in October 2002, two public hearings and 15 staff-led roundtables have taken place, featuring testimonies from U.S. government officials, academics and China experts from around the world.

Based on the testimonies of these experts, the commission notes that citizens in mainland China "are detained and imprisoned for peacefully exercising their rights and freedoms of expression, association, and belief," and "law enforcement authorities routinely ignore Chinese domestic law, or exploit loopholes in the law, to detain suspects and defendants."

Workers in China have few rights, according to the commission, and are barred from forming or joining trade unions, thus giving them few opportunities to express their grievances. Workers who do so, "often face harassment and criminal charges," notes the report.

The lack of freedom of religion in mainland China is sharply criticized by the commission, which reports that "Chinese Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, and Buddhists seeking to practice their faith outside officially-sanctioned churches, mosques, and temples are subject to harassment and repression." In addition, the government in Beijing continues to clamp down on spiritual organizations, particularly Falun Gong, [...] banned in China since July 1999.

Freedom of speech and a free press are virtually non-existent in mainland China, according to the commission. "The Chinese government suppresses freedom of expression in a manner that directly contravenes not only international human rights norms and standards, but also China's own constitution," states the report.

[...]

The commission recommends action be taken to address concerns in all these areas, and co-chairman Senator Chuck Hagel, a Republican from Nebraska, quoted in a press release stated, "China's new leadership must seize this moment to lead China into a future that includes human rights for all its citizens. China's future development will impact all of Asia, and the world. Respect for human rights must be part of that future."

Though the commission makes no direct recommendation that the mainland should adopt a democratic form of government, the report notes that "until the Chinese people acquire the open, transparent, and democratic means to influence their government's position on human rights, no one should assume that they do not wish to enjoy all the rights" expressed in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

[...]

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/detail.asp?ID=41877&GRP=B

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