US to Introduce China Resolution at U.N. Commission on Human Rights Meeting

The United States will introduce a resolution regarding China's human rights practices at the 2004 U.N. Commission on Human Rights meeting in Geneva, which began on March 15 and will conclude April 23.

A press release from the U.S. Department of State reads, "Our goal in sponsoring this resolution is to encourage China to take positive, concrete steps to meet its international obligations to protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the Chinese people."

On March 23, a day after Washington made the above announcement, China's Assistant Foreign Minister threatened that China will suspend dialogues and exchanges on human rights with the United States if the resolution is made.

Chinese officials accuse the United States of failing to recognize its actions regarding human rights, which included a decision at this year's National People's Congress to include, for the first time, the term "human rights" in China's constitution.

However, according to a report from Voice of America, organizations such as the Human Rights in China group say they doubt Beijing's resolve to improve its rights record. Nicolas Bequelin at the group's Hong Kong office said the government's definition of "food and shelter" as human rights is a narrow one. He also said compliance with the terms of international rights accords has been uneven.

"When it is favorable to the government of China to appear to be engaging with the human rights mechanism, they are doing it," said Mr. Bequelin. "At other times, when it is convenient and whenever they want to avoid public criticism of their human rights record, they retract to this narrow definition."

According to reports from Associated Press and Associated Foreign Press, the United States has voiced concern over China's arrests of democracy activists, alleged extrajudicial executions, and the torture of and mistreatment of prisoners. The reports also highlighted the repression of the Falun Gong practitioners, a spiritual group who number approximately 100 million in the Mainland.

The reports stated, "Chinese officials have reportedly spoken by telephone several times with their U.S. counterparts in recent weeks, including Secretary of State Colin Powell and President George W. Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, to discourage Washington from seeking the resolution."

The State Department's spokesman, Richard Boucher, stated in a press release, "The United States has been disappointed by China's failure to meet the commitments made at the U.S.-China Human Rights Dialogue in December 2002 as well as its failure to follow through on its stated intention to expand cooperation on human rights in 2003. We are also concerned about backsliding on key human rights issues that has occurred in a variety of areas since that time."

He continued, "We call on other members of the international community, especially members of the Commission on Human Rights, to join with us in supporting a resolution. We also call on members of the Commission to vote against procedural no-action motions that seek to prevent debate on resolutions and, as such, are not consistent with democratic principles such as freedom of speech. Such no-action motions prevent the only global body charged specifically with human rights from fulfilling its mandate."

According to the AP and AFP reports, human rights groups welcomed the U.S. resolution, stating that the American government could not ignore its own Department of State's annual human rights assessment, which last month highlighted the arrest of democracy activists and the suppression of religious [spiritual] groups in China.

"This resolution criticizing China's human rights record is an important step in attempts by the international community to promote the development of human rights in China," said Human Rights in China, an advocacy group based in New York. "Although China has made some progress in its social, economic and cultural rights over the past year, there has actually been a marked deterioration in civil and political rights."

References:

http://clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/3/23/46349.html

http://www.iht.com/articles/511548.html

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=52CE3BD4-AB20-4632-88EA862DCF532DAB

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