Amnesty International Recommends Canadian Government Put Human Rights at the Center of Canada's Relationship with China
By Clearwisdom Correspondent Ying Xin
(Clearwisdom.net) On October 31, 2006, the Canadian Foreign Relations
Committee's Subcommittee on Human Rights and International Development held a
hearing on human rights in China. Mr. Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty
International Canada, attended the hearing and recommended that the Canadian
Government put human rights at the very center of all aspects of Canada's
relationship with China. Human Rights Dialog Has No Effect and China's Human Rights Condition is
Deteriorating Amnesty International regards that the Canada-China human rights dialog did
not lead to improvement in China's human rights situation. On the contrary, in
many respects, China's human rights record has deteriorated. Examples include
the large scale arrest and torture of Falun Gong practitioners, and the
persecution of Internet users. Within this period of time, the torture continues
spreading and thousands of people were sentenced to death in unfair trials. Mr. Neve cited four cases of human rights violations, including lawyer Gao
Zhisheng illegally imprisoned and Falun Gong practitioner Bu Dongwei. He said
that they were all the subject of recent Amnesty International Urgent Actions.
Mr. Neve said, "Currently, thousands upon thousands of other women, men and
young people in every corner of China who face arbitrary arrest, unjust
imprisonment, harsh torture, brutal executions because of their beliefs, because
of their ethnicity, because of their commitment to justice -- deserve nothing
less." He continued, "Amnesty International and other NGO's were not opposed to
dialog, even private dialog. In fact dialog, well-structured and well-pursued,
can play a valuable role in improving human rights. We highlighted however that
for dialog to be effective it needs to be accompanied by appropriate public
pressure in multilateral settings such as the United Nations and it needs to
have clear objectives and a process for evaluating whether the dialog is in fact
making any progress towards those objectives. Otherwise the dialog risks being
an empty exercise, which gives an unwarranted appearance of meaningful attention
on the human rights front. In short, without substance, we argued that the
dialog process was no more than a sham." He said, "Clearly the dialog process should not continue in its current
form. It is a waste of resources, a waste of time, and by allowing what is
essentially nothing more than window dressing to go ahead is truly to do a grave
disservice to the cause that is at stake here: improving the protection of
fundamental human rights." Canadian Government Should Put Human Rights in the Very Center in Dealing
with China In this hearing, Amnesty International expressed the concern of thirteen
non-governmental organizations of Canada. Mr. Neve said, "AI and other
Canadian-based organizations who are concerned about the human rights situation
in China have been pressing for a parliamentary review of Canada's China policy
for over five years. We very much welcome this session today and hope it will
mark the beginning of a thorough review." "It is time to put human rights at the very center of all aspects of
Canada's relationship with China. To continue to relegate human rights issues to
a dialog process, even an improved dialog process, is frankly inadequate and
incomplete. Canada's relationship with China is complex and plays out across a
range of government departments and issues, including international trade,
international development, justice and immigration. The relationship plays out
both bilaterally and in multilateral settings." "Human rights should shape Canada's dealings with China in all of those
areas. As such, it is time for a comprehensive 'whole of government' approach to
the Canada/China human rights relationship to be developed, an approach that
does not leave human rights behind and instead takes maximum advantage of all
interaction between the two countries, all potential areas of influence and
leverage, to consistently advance an agenda of effective human rights reform in
China and to do so constructively in concert with other nations." "A thoughtful and comprehensive study carried out by this committee
could go far in signaling new directions and new approaches. That will
necessarily entail hearing from many others, from various arms of the Canadian
government, from Canadian businesses active in China, from academics and other
experts who study and follow China closely, and of course from the various
Canadian ethno-cultural organizations who represent some of the most persecuted
sectors of Chinese society, including Falun Gong practitioners. Canadian
organizations concerned about the state of human rights in China would provide
full support to such a process. It is long overdue. It could truly make a
difference."
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/11/9/142090.html
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