AFP: Amnesty Urges EU to Up Human Rights Pressure on China

LONDON, Sep 28, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Amnesty International urged EU leaders Wednesday to put more pressure on China to improve its human rights record, saying ongoing bilateral talks had failed to make any headway.

"The human rights situation in China has seriously deteriorated over the past two years," it said in an open letter to European Union governments, ahead of a new round of human rights talks starting Thursday between Brussels and Beijing.

"The human rights dialogue held by the EU and other governments with China has failed to bring any concrete improvements on the ground," it added.

Amnesty said it had been disappointed that the EU had not put forward any resolution on China to the UN Commission on Human Rights this year or last year, despite having promised to monitor the situation.

"Engagement in a dialogue should not preclude other unilateral or multilateral action to improve human rights," the letter went on.

"The value of dialogue can only be measured over time in terms of concrete improvements for victims of human rights violations.

"No such progress has been made in the dialogue with China."

Amnesty also criticized the lack of openness at the talks. They were held behind closed doors, it said, participation was narrow and restricted, there was no public reporting on the discussions and no timeframe for achieving EU objectives.

The London-based organization urged the European Union to report publicly on the talks, including China's responses to specific concerns, and re-assess the value of the dialogue.

((c) 2000 Agence France Presse)