Epoch Times: UNHCR Blocks Motion to Censure China's Human Rights Violations Politics prevents pro-human rights vote for 11th straight year

VOA News Apr 16, 2004

BEIJING --Bolstered by the support of some of the most repressive regimes in the world, China has for the eleventh time since 1990 escaped being censured for its human rights record by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

Cuba, which was recently censured by the Commission, as well as Eritrea, Zimbabwe, and Saudi Arabia, voted against the motion, which was initiated by the United States in response to China's worsening human rights record.

Washington says it is concerned about what it says are Beijing's continued restrictions on freedom of association, expression, and religion.

China submitted a measure to block any action on the motion and won. 28 of the nations on the 53-member commission voted for it and nullified the motion.

Beijing quickly claimed victory, with a foreign ministry spokesman saying the United States had "isolated" itself and failed to pass what Beijing called an "anti-China resolution."

International human rights advocates say the failure of this and past motions is due to politics - not because Beijing has substantially improved its record.

Nicolas Becquelin of the Human Rights in China group says the decision shows the balance of power on the U.N. Commission on Human Rights.

"You have a lot of authoritarian countries who are members of the U.N. and of the commission. These states share with China the opposition to the scrutiny of their human rights situations, so they would vote with China to defeat resolutions attacking them," Mr. Becquelin said.

Those voting to block action on the U.S. motion included Cuba, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Togo, and Zimbabwe, nations that international rights groups have labeled among the world's most repressive.

Mr. Becquelin says recent arrests of dissidents, crackdowns on followers of religious groups not sanctioned by the government, and other violations indicate China's record may not be improving.

China currently has at least 60 people in jail for posting government criticisms on the Internet. Hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners are in labor camps for meditating, numerous Christians for worshipping at home, and countless reform advocates for seeking freedom and fairness guaranteed by the Chinese constitution. All told, China has approximately 6 million citizens imprisoned in slave labor camps, incarcerated without trial and forced to work long hours under unsafe conditions, according to the Laogai Research Foundation.

China also executes more criminals than any other nation in the world; as many as ninety per cent of these criminals' remains are eviscerated for the organ transplant market.

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