(Clearwisdom.net) The 60th Session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission is being held in Geneva from March the 15 to April 23 2004. A member of the German Parliament, Mr. Haibach, also a Member of the German Human Rights Committee, arrived in Geneva on Monday. Prior to his departure, he was interviewed as follows:

Reporter: You once clearly mentioned that Hong Kong lawmaker Liu Huiqing's opposition to Hong Kong's enactment of Article 23 and the interpretation of HK basic law by the Chinese National People's Congress was explicit, and you approved of her position. Do you think that the German Government should also take an explicit attitude towards China's human rights practices?

Mr. Haibach: I felt that German President Rau's comments on China's human rights practices during his trip to China last year were quite direct and very good. I hope German Chancellor Schroeder and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can also use such explicit rhetoric and attitude to evaluate China's human rights situation.

Reporter: Last week, the U.S. Mission declared that the U.S. was going to introduce a resolution at the U.N. Human Rights Conference, condemning China's human rights practices. However, China reacted fiercely, saying that these were China's internal affairs, and asked the U.S. to mind its own human rights situation. What is the German Mission's attitude towards this matter?

Mr. Haibach: Germany will support this resolution. Both China and Cuba's reactions were fierce and offensive. China is a signatory to various international human rights conventions, and it is supposed to observe those conventions. All the nations should monitor one another. The German Government has paid attention to its domestic human rights situation. For one thing, Germany not only monitors other countries' human rights practices, it also has a set of monitoring systems. Recently, for instance, Frankfurt police officers' overreaction in its law enforcement operations has also been criticised internally.

Reporter: What will be the German government's main tasks in this session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission?

Mr. Haibach: Mainly civil rights, freedom of belief and minorities' rights.

Reporter: The Chinese Government often stresses that different cultures may have different concepts of human rights.

Mr. Haibach: Regardless of cultural background, all the signatories to the United Nations Agreements on Human Rights should observe the stipulations of this Agreement.

Reporter: The Chinese Government has also often said that China has a special situation, and the right to exist is Chinese people's human rights.

Mr. Haibach: If so, it would be a very strange definition with such a strict limitation. Take Falun Gong practitioners and Tibetans for example. Many of them exist in China, but they are not allowed to have their own beliefs. The right to exist is far from the definition of human rights.

Reporter: In November 2003, Falun Gong practitioners filed a criminal lawsuit with Germany's Federal Prosecutor against Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin and other Chinese officials who have persecuted Falun Gong. What do you think of this issue?

Mr. Haibach: It's hard to say whether this lawsuit can succeed or not, but it is effective if we view it from the angle of attracting public opinion and more people's attention. Falun Gong practitioners should lodge this case with the International Court of Justice.

[...]

Source: http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200404/18902.html

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