Letter to the Chairman of the Committee
from the Minister for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs, 4
July 2006
During the Westminster Hall debate on 15 June,
I undertook to send a note to the Committee before my visit to
China concerning how I intend to approach human rights issues
with the Chinese government,
Over the last 15 years the pace of change in
China has been relentless. Every day life has improved for millions
of Chinese not least through a reduction in poverty levels. New
research by the World Bank suggests that between 2001 and 2004
over 60 million people were lifted out of poverty. But there are
still around 135 million people (10.5% of the population) living
on less than a US $1 a day and it is right that the Chinese Government
has reaffirmed its commitment to addressing inequality and poverty
in the new Five Year Plan (2006-10). The Government has also promoted
improvements in basic freedoms for its citizens, for example there
is now more economic choice, and freedom to move around and outside
the country.
That said, the Government continues to have
serious concerns across a broad range of human rights issues in
China. These include: the severe restrictions on freedom of association,
freedom of expression (including the arbitrary harassment and
detention of lawyers, journalists and activists), the right to
practice ones religious beliefs; the ongoing extensive use of
the death penalty; the extensive use of torture as reported by
the UN Special Rapporteur following his visit to China last year;
the deprivation of cultural and religious rights of citizens in
Xinjiang; the treatment of Falun Gong supporters; and aspects
of the one child policy, such as forced abortion. I receive a
steady flow of letters requesting updates and clarification of
the Government's position on these issues.
We pursue a policy of critical dialogue, engagement,
advocacy work and projects to address these issues and to encourage
real improvements on the ground in China. In addition to the formal
biannual UK-China Human Rights Dialogue, we use ministerial and
senior-level contacts and EU mechanisms to raise our concerns
about legal developments, restrictive practices and specific incidents
in China which, in our view, are incompatible with international
human rights standards. We encourage the Chinese Government to
change its behaviour and try to share our own practice and experience
on human rights. In this respect, the FCO funds a number of human
rights projects, which focus on priority topics such as reforming
criminal trial procedure, reform of the death penalty review system,
raising awareness of China's international obligations under the
UN Convention against Torture and prison reform.
We continue to receive fetters from individuals
concerned about the issue of organ harvesting from death row prisoners.
We have raised our concerns with the Chinese Government and welcome
its announcement of a new regulation to ban the sale of organs
to come into effect on 1 July. But we remain concerned that the
regulation does not preclude the use of organs from prisoners,
and will continue to stress the importance of adhering to World
Medical standards for organ transplants, which require donation
to be based on free and informed consent. We also want China to
accelerate death penalty reform and ultimately to abolish the
death penalty.
The Government is aware of reports of organ
harvesting from Falun Gong prisoners in China. We have seen no
evidence to substantiate these reports.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs categorically
denied the allegations in a statement of 10 April. We continue
to raise our concerns about human rights abuses of Falun Gong
adherents in other contexts.
The Government remains concerned about human
rights abuses in Tibet, in particular the political education
of monks and nuns, the economic and environmental impact of Han
Chinese immigration and restrictions on the expression of Tibetan's
political, cultural and religious rights, and the fate of Gedhun
Choekyi Nyima (recognised by the Dalai Lama as the Panchen Lama
but who has been kept out of public view by the Chinese authorities).
We receive regular letters from NGOs and members of the public
on these issues. We regularly press the Chinese Government to
permit access to Gedhun Choekyi Nyima by an international, independent
figure to verify that he is well. We will continue to raise our
concerns about Tibet and the Panchen Lama with the Chinese Government
at every suitable opportunity.
Urging the Chinese Government to ratify the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights remains a
key priority. I raised this with Yang Jiechi, Vice Minister for
Foreign Affairs, at the first session of the Human Rights Council,
on 20 June. We will continue to encourage the Chinese Government
to commit to a timetable for ratification.
As mentioned above, the UK-China Human Rights
Dialogue is a key part of our engagement. It represents an important
political signal to the Chinese authorities that we continue to
attach high importance to the human rights situation in China
and acts as an effective vehicle for putting across our messages
in detail, at a high level and with input from experts, to influential
Chinese officials. The 14th round of the dialogue will take place
next week in Beijing (3-7 July). As well as discussing human rights
themes (this time freedom of association and the role of defence
lawyers in the criminal justice system), we use the dialogue to
seek responses on individual cases of concern. I will not list
such cases here but we have a database on file that records when
each case has been raised by the UK and other European partners
and any response that has been received from the Chinese Government.
We are always willing to consider action on specific cases and
regularly invite input from relevant non-Government Organisations
(NGOs).
I met representatives from these NGOs on 28
June and listened to their concerns and will consider carefully
how I may represent their views during my visit to China later
this month.
It is important for us to remember that human
rights violations happen to real people in real places, and we
must continue to pursue new methods of working to build co-operation
and dialogue. Membership of the new Human Rights Council gives
China a further opportunity to demonstrate a commitment to improving
its human rights record. All Council members must submit to review
their fulfilment of human rights obligations and we look forward
to working with China to draw up the modalities of this review
mechanism.
These are the issues that I want to address
with the Chinese government. However, as I said in the debate,
if you feel I have overlooked any issues of particular concern
to you please do let me know.
Rt Hon Ian McCartney MP
Minister for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs
4 July 2006
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