April 8

(Clearwisdom.net) The State Department called on US-based groups to come up with proposals to promote human rights in China, as part of an 8.5-million-dollar project.

Now in its fourth year, the program is designed to foster initiatives designed to promote democracy, human rights, freedom of information and criminal and civil rule of law, the department said.

The solicitation, in the Federal Register, a gazette of official government business in Washington, appeared a week after the department gave China low marks in its annual survey of global human rights.

China's "human rights record throughout the year remained poor, and the government continued to commit numerous and serious abuses," the report said.

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US officials said they had still not decided whether to follow normal practice by sponsoring a resolution critical of China at the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

[...]

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/030408/1/39voc.html