China Represses Religious Freedoms - U.S. Proposes Resolution Against China's Abuses at the UN

On March the 22nd 2004, the U.S. announced that it would propose a resolution to condemn China's human rights record in the UN Human Rights Commission meeting this year. The following day, the Chinese Foreign Ministry declared that they would suspend their human rights dialogue with the U.S. At present, the U.S. is appealing for support from other countries. However, China might propose suspending the resolution to escape condemnation, just as it did last year. China is courting delegates from African countries to gain their support.

The U.S., for more than two decades, has used economic incentives to attempt to encourage improvements in China's human rights situation.

A U.S. Congressman states: "There is no relationship between economic improvement and human rights."

The Epoch Times reported on March the 25th that the International Relations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives passed Resolution 530. The resolution states that the Chinese government represses religious freedoms, including the persecution of Falun Gong. The resolution asked the Bush administration to propose a resolution condemning China.

One of the cosponsors of the resolution, Congressman Frank Wolf of Virginia, said: "There is no relationship between economic improvement and human rights. In fact, in the years when Nazi Germany was in an improving economy, they abused human rights and continued abducting and killing people. In China, there are large forced labour camps outside of each main city and the police can arrest anyone at any time. In China, some people were executed with a firearm to remove their kidneys to be sold for organ transplants. So there is no relationship between economic improvement and human rights. For example, they repress Falun Gong. Actually, the brutal torture used on Falun Gong practitioners has become more savage than before. People can't live by bread alone. People need to be able to read what they want to read, think about what they want to think, and say what they want to say. However, these rights do not exist in China."

European Parliament: "...human rights are not internal affairs."

To counter the criticism on China's human rights from international institutions, Beijing expresses just as before: "The U.S. government is interfering in China's internal affairs." To counter this statement, the European Parliament, represented by German Dr. Georg Jarzembowsky, who was the coordinator of China issues in the Christlich Demokratische Union of the European Congress, expressed: "The same old stuff. I cannot accept this kind of game. Beijing must accept several restraints of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. All governments should supervise each other on human rights issues; no one may say that human rights are an internal affair. It goes without saying."

An NGO: China violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

While writing to Falun Gong practitioners, the president of Association of World Citizens and its delegate to the UN, Mr. Rene Wadlow, said: "I'm not able to be with you now, but I'm with you in heart and spirit." He indicated that since the sub-commission of Human Rights' meeting in August 1999 shortly after the persecution began, our NGO, Association of World Citizens in the United Nations, has denounced the repression of Falun Gong practitioners without trial as a direct violation of article 18 of "the International Pact on civil and political rights" that China has signed; it's a violation of the spirit of "the declaration on elimination of all forms of intolerance and discrimination based on religion or conviction."

Falun Gong practitioners: "Stop the repression and bring those responsible to justice."

On March the 15th 2004, the first day of the UN Human Rights Commission meeting, over 500 Falun Gong practitioners from more than 20 countries around the world, including Europe, Asia, Australia and America, etc., gathered in Geneva to appeal to the delegates to stop the persecution of Falun Gong.

Mike, from Denmark, was in Geneva for the fourth time to appeal during the UN Human Rights Commission meetings. He said: "What we want to express is to stop the nearly-five-year persecution of Falun Gong. Every day and every hour there are people in China who are suffering brutality and are even tortured to death. This is only because they practise the peaceful Falun Gong."

"We hope to pass on this information through several activities. First we appeal to the Chinese government to stop the persecution of Falun Gong. Second, we hope to bring the people responsible to court and uphold justice. These people are Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan and several other high ranking government officials who initiated and coordinate the persecution."

According to Radio Free Asia: On March 23, some UN diplomats disclosed that if the U.S. proposes a resolution to condemn China's human rights record in the UN Human Rights Commission meeting this year, China would propose to suspend the resolution to escape condemnation. China is courting delegates from African countries to gain their support.

Suspending the resolution requires the support of more than half of the 53 nations of the U.N. Human Rights Commission. Reports from AFP indicate that both the U.S. and China are seeking support. On Monday, U.S. State Department spokesman, Mr. Richard Boucher, said that the U.S. has concerns regarding the regression in China's human rights performance and appeals to other countries to support the U.S.' resolution. He said that the U.S. is discussing the content of the resolution with the European Union and other countries, and asks them to support the resolution.