CHINA HAS rejected calls to improve its human rights record by ending detention in labour camps, abolishing the death penalty and guaranteeing freedom of religion at the end of its first human rights review by the United Nations.
Beijing considers human rights a domestic issue and does not take favourably to criticism, and it was not surprising that China rejected all the suggestions made by western countries such as Britain, France and Germany, and Latin countries including Mexico, Brazil and Argentina during the Universal Periodic Review procedure that all UN members are expected to undergo every four years.
Chinese officials rejected recommendations on rights reform and greater rights for ethnic minorities such as Tibetans and Uighurs as political propaganda unworthy of discussion. They also rejected calls for more rights for lawyers.
China executes more people than any other country. Officials said, however, that China was sparing in applying capital punishment but that it could not abolish it “in current circumstances”.
However, it did agree to examine the number of crimes that are punishable by death.
While the 47-member council has no enforcement powers, human rights activists said they were happy the review had taken place as it raised issues publicly, and a report had been issued.
China also dismissed recommendations to end torture, give greater rights to ethnic minorities and allow independent experts into the country to inspect China’s human rights record.
The focus in China has been on the progress it has made on human rights. Xinhua news agency quoted senior academics saying the review showed how China had strengthened its international human rights co-operation since reform.
“China adopted a more active and open attitude in international human rights exchanges and co-operation in the new century. More noticeably, the country ushered in the concept of a harmonious world,” Luo Yanhua, professor at the School of International Studies of Beijing-based Peking University, told Xinhua.
China claims that improving people’s economic situation is the best way to improve human rights, and it supported proposals from other developing countries in the review to improve social and economic rights such as creating jobs in rural areas and doing more to integrate people with disabilities.