Sir, - The post-Maastricht EU's record on the promotion of international human rights is rather abysmal. Last year we saw the debacle of the EU's lack of any real commitment to move on human rights violations in China. This year it was the turn of Algeria to suffer from the EU's inaction at the UN Commission of Human Rights in Geneva.
Sadly human rights in the EU remain at the level of rhetoric rather than reality. Can we expect anything better from a post-Amsterdam Europe? - Yours, etc., Brendan Butler,
Swords, Co Dublin.