Human Rights are not expected to be promoted in China
From Reuters:
A prominent U.S.-based rights group has said it did not expect China to promote human rights at home despite its new position on the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Human Rights in China (HRIC) said that China should use the opportunity to promote human rights as befits its role as an increasingly important global player, but expressed doubts that the country with the world’s largest population would change.
“While there has been some improvement in the human rights situation in China, over the past 17 years HRIC has documented continued and increasing detentions, arrests and other forms of persecution,” the group said in a statement seen on Wednesday.
“China’s position that countries can differ on human rights due to cultural and historic differences undermines the universality and indivisibility of human rights,” it added.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said on Wednesday that Beijing will honor its commitment to protect human rights.
“As a member of the council, the Chinese government will comprehensively push forward the human rights cause in China and seriously carry out its obligations under relevant international human rights conventions,” Liu said in a statement on the ministry’s Web site (www.fmprc.gov.cn).
China was elected to the council along with Russia, Cuba, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan.
The six counties, identified by New York-based Human Rights Watch as unworthy of membership on the new U.N. body, were on Tuesday among the 47 nations that won seats on the council for its first session, due to open on June 19 in Geneva.
Amnesty International has also urged all the newly elected states to fulfill their obligation “to uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights”.
It seems that is a bit impossible: They have jailed another blogger for the great crime of …. supporting free elections (HT: Free Thoughts):
CHINA sentenced a veteran dissident writer to 12 years in jail for subversion yesterday, after he posted essays on the internet supporting a movement by exiles to hold free elections.
The sentence on Yang Tianshui, 45, is one of the harshest to be handed down to a political dissident since the trials that came after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on students demanding greater democracy. It underscores the determination of the ruling Communist Party to brook no opposition and to maintain a tight grip on the internet.
Yang is one of several writers and dissidents to be tried over the content of internet postings. He has no plans to appeal because he regards his trial as illegal. Li Jianqiang, his lawyer, said: “He is most dissatisfied but he had expected such a sentence. He refused to answer questions because he does not recognise the legality of the court.”
If that is the way they have to fulfil their obligations and to push Human Rights, errr, well, …
Anyway, there is another truly amazing sign of equality between all the Chinese citizens:
Chinese want cars. Lots of them. More than 1,000 new cars hit the streets of Beijing every day.
A lot of those cars are compact cars - designed with the average Chinese consumer in mind. After all, the average Chinese car buyer is looking for an engine-powered vehicle to replace his bicycle or the tyranny of the crowded bus.
But some people in this country, where many still struggle on the poverty line, have rather bigger budgets.
By the way, in this blog from TimesOnLine there is not a mention to the jailed Chinese bloggers, although it seems to me it is so an important matter to examine. Global Voices On Line is announcing the launching of a page to track current cases from all the world.
There is someone missing though: Alejandro Fariñas. Even if he has ended his hunger strike (HT: “La Ventanita”), it seems to me it’s necessary to who who is and why has been 56 days on a hunger strike. You can read about him in Babalu’s Blog.
Tags: China, dissidents, freedom of expression, Human Rights, Release Hao Wu, Cuba
