Human Rights WatchChina Needs Pragmatism to Ensure Respect for Human Rights by Lobsang Choedak
Better late than never! The Chinese government has made a tardy response to international community’s condemnation for its brazen acts of human rights violations, particularly of its brutal crackdown on Tibetan protesters throughout Tibet in March last year, which resulted in hundreds of death and thousands arrested, injured and missing. The outlining of the first-ever national human rights action plan for the year 2009-10 by the Chinese government is a first step forward and which is indeed laudable. The Information Office of State Council or Cabinet of the Chinese government, on Monday issued the 54-page document comprising of five sections: Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Civil and Political Rights; Rights and Interests of Ethnic Minorities, Women, Children, Elderly People and the Disabled; Education in Human Rights; and Performing International Human Rights Duties and Conducting Exchanges and Cooperation in the Field of International Human Rights. Human rights activists applauded Beijing officials for showing an interest in the issue. But they cautioned that any implementation would require years of work by local, provincial and national government agencies, many of which have shown little interest in initiatives that may limit their power. “It’s a step forward, I think — it’s also good there are some concrete benchmarks with 2010 as a deadline,” said Roseann Rife, the deputy program director for Asia and the Pacific at Amnesty International while adding, “There are very serious abuses omitted from the plan.” With dismal track record of human rights violations, especially in Tibet and other minority areas, it is the most opportune time that the Chinese government has awaken to the reality and pledged to protect and improve human rights conditions. But to ensure a real and tangible progress in improving the human rights of its people, the Chinese government should undertake practical steps lest it might remain only a lip service. Equally important would be thorough scrutiny by the international community, particularly the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), to hold the Chinese government accountable to any violations while implementing the new plan. The periodic review of China’s human rights conducted by UNHRC and UN-affiliated Committee Against Torture have paid off considerably. Maintaining transparency and accountability in Chinese government’s policy are also pre requisite to make improvement in fulfilling people’s basic rights as enshrined in the constitution. Concerning the issue of Tibet, these can be achieved through letting in UN observers and media to assess the real situation inside Tibet without the hindrance of official minders. The Chinese government has also made commitment to “raise the level of ensuring people’s civil and political rights through improving democracy and the rule of law. The realization of human rights in the broadest sense has been a long-cherished ideal of mankind and also a long-sought goal of the Chinese government and people”. It came in tune with the call from the Chinese people, particularly Chinese academicians, artists, farmers and lawyers, in the form of Charter ’08 aspiring for political, legal and constitutional reform. President Hu Jintao’s call for a harmonious society can provide space to the viewpoints being expressed by a growing number of Chinese people. A harmonious society can only come into being when there is trust among the people, freedom from fear, freedom of expression, rule of law, justice and equality. The action plan also stipulates principles for safeguarding detainees’ rights and treatment. It pledged to guarantee lawyers’ rights to meet, correspond with and review files of people in custody, as well as to conduct investigations and collect evidence. It said the state also guarantees personal rights of lawyers and their right to debate or defend when they carry out their duties. Last year, a group of Chinese lawyers based in Mainland China have offered their legal assistance to Tibetan arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned by Chinese authorities following the peaceful protests in Lhasa and other Tibetan areas. But their request were not fulfilled. The first step to make a good start now is to release all the Tibetan detainees who are prisoners of conscience. The government should give rights to those convicted, including four Tibetans sentenced to death, to hire lawyers to represent their cases under a due process of law. The government should become accountable to all those who are reportedly disappeared and provide medical treatment for those who were wounded. China’s violent crackdown on Tibetan protesters since 10 March 2008, left 220 Tibetans dead, 1,294 injured and 290 sentenced. More than 5,600 were arrested or detained and over 1,000 disappeared. (FACT SHEET: Tibetan Deaths Under China’s Crackdown since March 2008).The international community should put sustained pressure for the long-term interest of all those people who are denied fundamental rights stipulated in the UN Declaration of Human Rights. –This column is an open discussion forum for Tibet related issues and the views expressed here does not necessarily reflect those of the Central Tibetan Administration.
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