WASHINGTON – A congressional panel has launched a renewed attack on China’s human rights record, and called on the United States government to put pressure on Beijing to improve conditions.
The Congressional Executive Commission on China also condemned its ‘tepid’ response to the Aids crisis.
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‘The commission finds that human rights conditions in China have not improved overall in the past year.
‘The Chinese government continues to violate China’s own Constitution and laws and international norms and standards protecting human rights,’ it said in a report.
The document reiterated past criticism of people detained ‘for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression’.
It said China was not keeping to international agreements on protecting workers’ rights, that child and prison labour remained a problem and that ‘scores of Christian, Muslim and Tibetan Buddhist worshippers have been arrested or detained during 2003’.
The report said the US President and Congress ‘should increase diplomatic efforts’ to make sure Beijing kept commitments made during a dialogue last year.
It said special attention should be paid to help people ‘arbitrarily detained’ and to follow up on a Chinese promise to give unconditional invitations to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
It called for greater efforts to ensure goods made by prisoners did not enter the US.
The report added: ‘The President and the Congress should continue to raise HIV/Aids issues at the highest levels of the Chinese leadership during all bilateral meetings, citing the epidemic as an international concern that cannot be solved without the action of China’s most senior leaders.’ — AFP
