Chinese Regime's Human Rights Report Heavily Criticized

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NTDTV | With some calling it a "whitewash" and others a "window dressing" ...

[James Zimmerman, China Expert, Amnesty International]:
"The report gives priority to economics, social and cultural rights, which is their approach, and only two or three sections deal with civil and political rights, and they omitted these cases which are still going on. Religious persecution of Falun Gong that is still going on, I mean it's just an endless list of them, the situation in Xingjian and Tibet, it remains very, very grim for the people there."

The Asia Advocacy director of Human Rights Watch, Sophie Richardson describes the report to the Associated Press as (quote) "at best, a missed opportunity and at worst a clumsy whitewash by failing to render a realistic assessment of China's human rights problems."

[James Zimmerman, China Expert, Amnesty International]:
"It does talk about lawyers, but when lawyers try to do their job, they're like to be harassed, like Gao Zhisheng. It gives quite a bit of space about the internet, but it doesn't mention they have 30,000 people monitoring the internet, and that they have blocked many, many sites. For examples, sites about June 4, 1989 are all still blocked. It's just very selective."

The Chinese regime also reports a decline in the number of petitioners—people who seek to have their legal issues resolved, after failed attempts through the judicial system. But rights advocates in China say their situation has in fact gotten worse.

[Zhang Jianzhong, Rights Advocate]:
"It's the biggest joke, human rights. I am again under surveillance. I have seen through the darkness of China's judiciary. Who wants to petition still? There's no way left."

Zimmerman says the Chinese regime's attitude on human rights has ramifications for the rest of the world, given its engagement with other known human rights abusers.

Zimmerman believes instead of taking actions to make itself look good, the Chinese regime needs to address the problems of those who are suffering because their human rights have been violated. More