Berlin, January 23: Amnesty International’s head in Germany called Wednesday for the German government and the country’s Olympic committee to place more pressure on China over human rights issues. The call came a day after Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, announced they had put behind them the tensions that followed Chancellor Angela Merkel’s September meeting with the Dalai Lama.
“I expect the German government and more particularly the German Olympic Association to increase pressure on the Chinese government,” Amnesty General Secretary Barbara Lochbilder said.
Dialogue with Beijing had to be continued on human rights issues, Lochbilder told the Neue Presse, a Hanover daily.
She called for a reduction in the number of capital crimes in China and for the abolition of “re-education camps.”
Germany had a regular high-level dialogue on human rights and the rule of law with Beijing that was halted after Merkel met the Tibetan religious leader on September 23 last year.
While Steinmeier and Yang signalled a return to normal relations after meeting in Berlin Tuesday, German government spokesmen have said the human rights dialogue has not yet been resumed.
