China may escape censure on rights

GENEVA, APRIL 18. China looked likely to escape censure again at the U.N. human rights forum today by sidestepping a U.S. resolution condemning its record.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, in the final stretch of its annual six-week session to examine violations worldwide, is due today to examine the records of countries, including China, Cuba, Iran, Iraq and Sudan.

The United States is expected to call for a vote in the 53-member U.N. forum on its resolution accusing China of violations, including the repression of Tibetans and of the Falun Gong spiritual movement.

But rights groups said they expected China to quash any true debate, and that western resolutions on Iran and Cuba could also be defeated by the Commission.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has denounced the composition of this year's forum, whose new members with voting rights include states accused of serious abuses - Algeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Vietnam.

``I am very pessimistic on China. It is very, very unlikely something different from last year and the year before would happen,'' Ms. Joanna Weschler of Human Rights Watch said.

``Cuba is extremely iffy... Iran is a big question mark,'' Ms. Weschler, a veteran of the annual event, told Reuters in Geneva.

Supporters of the Falun Gong held rallies on Tuesday in Hong Kong and Washington ahead of an evening candlelight vigil by up to 200 activists outside the U.N. building in Geneva.

In a statement, the group alleged that at least 193 people had been killed by torture and police brutality during the ``illegal crackdown'' on its practitioners begun in 1999. - Reuters

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Previous : Dragan Obrenovic to be transferred to CTFY
Next     : Stage set for meet on climate change