March 20, 2000 The New York Times:
Filed at 6:39 a.m. EST

By The Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) -- China and Chechnya promise to be two of the toughest challenges for the 53-nation U.N. Human Rights Commission, which kicked off its annual session today listening to an appeal of ``no sanctuary'' for offenders.

Mary Robinson, the United Nations' chief human rights enforcer, said the body should ``rigorously and independently'' investigate allegations of atrocities.

``Where proven to be well-founded, those responsible have to be pursued and brought to justice,'' said Robinson. ``There must be no selectivity, no sanctuary, no impunity for those guilty of gross human rights violations.''

The Chechen war and Chinese clampdowns are among issues that will be drawing dozens of foreign ministers and other top officials from as far away as Pakistan, Chile and Cuba.

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook have joined 30 cabinet level officials in signing up just for the first week.

Two top human rights organizations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have urged the commission to risk provoking the ire of Russia and China, two of the most powerful nations that will be involved in behind-the-scenes lobbying.

However, countries like Turkey and Saudi Arabia also have avoided outright condemnation in the past.

``There are quite a few untouchables'' at the commission, Isabelle Scherrer, Amnesty's representative at the United Nations in Geneva, told reporters last Friday. ``China has been one for many years ... and we'll see whether this year the commission can finally break its deadlock.''

The U.S. government took the unusual step this year of announcing well in advance -- on Jan. 11 -- that it would propose a resolution criticizing China, citing what it said was a continued deterioration in Beijing's rights record.

Previous attempts to rebuke China have failed in the face of heavy lobbying by Beijing with developing countries, which dominate the commission.

The European Union, which last year refrained from backing a China resolution, has yet to announce a policy this year.

Amnesty and Human Rights Watch say China is pressing its most concerted crackdown on dissent in a decade.

Robinson, who was in China earlier this month and plans to visit Moscow and Chechnya starting March 31, noted there had been allegations of serious abuses in Chechnya. Russia has denied the allegations.

``I welcome the fact that the authorities of the Russian Federation have now agreed to allow me to make a visit,'' she said. ``It is clear that the civilian population is facing a catastrophic situation as a result of the conflict.''

Robinson did not single out China, but she has previously said China's violations of freedom of speech, religion and association have worsened in the past year.

During her visit, she failed to get China's agreement on a program of technical cooperation to help it ratify two key human rights treaties.

Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen, however, has said China's human rights situation has never been better.

Rights groups, however, note China has jailed 21 leading members of a banned opposition group, the China Democracy Party, for subversion and detained thousands of members of Falun Gong, an offshoot of traditional healing and meditation groups. Beijing say Falun Gong is a dangerous cult.

As the commission session began, 350 Falun Gong followers protested silently by performing their meditative exercises in the cold outside, facing the U.N. complex.

Amnesty also says the commission should discuss conditions in Mexico.

Other nations that will be discussed by the commission will include such countries as Iran, Iraq, Myanmar and Cuba, all of which were criticized last year.