Human Rights Organizations Urge European Union to Raise Human Rights Issue to Wen Jiabao

(Clearwisdom.net) Summary report by Clearwisdom.net correspondent - As the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will attend the European Union-China summit in The Hague on December 7 and 8, 2004, London-based Amnesty International, an international human rights organization published its first report on China which focuses specifically on human rights defenders this Monday, December 6. The report pointed out that China's current human rights situation has not gained any improvement. When leaders of the European Union will meet the Chinese leaders this week at the EU-China summit, they should raise this issue to the Chinese leaders.

According to Voice of America, Amnesty International addressed in a report this Monday that as human rights activists in China are still facing great risks of being detained and tortured, EU leaders should raise the issue to Chinese leaders this week during the summit.

Early this month, Falun Gong practitioners filed a legal complaint in the Netherlands against Chinese officials who have participated in the serious persecution of Falun Gong. According to Radio France Internationale's report on December 4, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will arrive at The Hague on December 7 to attend the EU-China summit. Falun Gong filed a legal complaint on Thursday, December 2 against Jiang Zemin, Bo Xilai and Li Lanqing, accusing them for committing crimes of genocide and torture against Falun Gong practitioners including two Dutch citizens.

From July 20, 1999 when Jiang Zemin's regime started openly persecuting Falun Gong up to November 30, 2004, 1150 Falun Gong practitioners were confirmed to have died from the persecution. These death cases were verified through unofficial channels.

The annual human rights report issued by the United Kingdom government in November pointed out that the UK government would keep paying attention seriously to China's basic human rights situation and keep paying close attention to reports on the ill-treatment received by imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners. The report said issues that UK government has always concerned about include: abuse death penalty, torture, continuous harassment to political dissidents, religious adherents and Falun Gong spiritual movements.

According to Radio Free Asia, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao is anticipated to request EU to end its 15-year arm embargo on China during his visit to the Netherlands. With the rapid development of China's economy, EU continuously expresses its wishes to establish a closer relationship with China. Therefore, human rights organizations worry that EU's pursuit of the economic interests would surpass its concern of human rights in the development of the bilateral relationship between EU and China.

Press Officer from Amnesty International told Radio Free Asia that Amnesty International wishes EU leaders to raise human rights issues in China to Premier Wen Jiabao. He said, "Human rights issue should be a core topic in their discussion. EU should urge China not to harass human rights activists, not to arrest them or imprison them. EU should urge China to release all imprisoned human rights defenders."

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2004/12/7/90880.html

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