BEIJING, Feb 10 (AFP) -
Human rights groups Thursday called on the EU to censure Beijing at an upcoming UN meeting for its "most ruthless repression of dissent" since 1989.
The six international groups called on the European Union to drop its policy of "quiet diplomacy" towards Beijing, and join the United States in criticizing China at the United Nations Human Rights Commission in March.
"The Chinese government is currently conducting the most ruthless repression of dissent since the 1989 crackdown," they said in a statement, referring to the military suppression of student protesters in Tiananmen Square in June of that year.
The groups said ongoing repression was "most vividly evidenced in the drive against the Falungong movement and the harsh sentencing of labour, political and spiritual activists and Tibetan religious leaders to prison terms of up to 18 years."
The press release was issued by Amnesty International, Federation Internationale Des Ligues Des Droits De L'Homme, Human Rights in China, Human Rights Watch, International Campaign for Tibet, and Reporters Sans Frontieres.
The US State Department has pointed to crackdowns by Beijing on the Falungong mystical group and political dissidents, as well as interference with freedom of worship, in explaining its intention to push ahead with a motion criticizing China at the UN human rights meeting.
The United States has tabled similar resolutions every year since 1990, except for 1998, but has never succeeded in generating enough support from other UN members to pass them.
The European Union has yet to confirm whether it will support the upcoming motion, although the European Parliament on January 20 adopted a resolution supporting the US move and criticising the "worsening" situation in China.
The human rights groups also criticized what they termed the EU's singular use of dialogue to address human rights concerns in China, and its failure to support UN resolutions censuring China since 1997.
"Dialogue without pressure in the face of persistent gross violations of human rights is simply appeasement and degrades the authority of international human rights standards," the statement said.
"In the interest of upholding the universality of human rights, it is of utmost importance that the issue of human rights in China be taken up as a multilateral effort, and not be reduced to a topic of US-China politics."
China's Vice Foreign Minister Wang Guangya warned the United States on January 31 that its introduction of a UN human rights censure motion would lead to a "serious setback" in bilateral ties. ((c) 2000 Agence France Presse)
Category: Falun Dafa in the Media
