February 26, 2001

CHINA: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, will come under pressure in Beijing today to urge China to scrap its controversial re-education labour camps, used to detain Falun Gong members and dissidents.

The former president will host a two-day workshop in the Chinese capital on punishment of minor crimes, which is a follow up to a co-operation pact she signed with China last November.

Her visit comes as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has finished its evaluation of Beijing's bid to host the 2008 Games.

The Olympics inspection tour was marred by reports of the detention of several dissidents and the sentencing to two years reeducation through labour of a woman who wrote to the IOC asking it to press Beijing to free political prisoners.

During her last visit to Beijing, Mrs Robinson said China had a "very significant way to go" in meeting international standards of freedom of expression, association and religious belief.

Today's workshop on punishment of minor crimes is expected to focus on the use by China, without trial, of re-education through labour sentences for critics of the Communist Party, prostitutes and drug users.

It is reported that China has used labour sentences to detain at least 5,000 followers of Falun Gong, the banned spiritual movement.

The New York-based group, Human Rights in China, last night urged Mrs Robinson to press Beijing to scrap the 45year-old system. "We do not believe that this is a system that can be 'fixed' or 'reformed' by adding a formalistic judicial review," the group said in a statement.

The new US administration is expected to sponsor a UN resolution criticising Beijing's human rights record next month in Geneva. The US State Department's annual human rights report, due in several days, is expected to underscore criticism over the crackdown on Falun Gong, tough policies in the Buddhist region of Tibet and curbs on the media and the Internet.

The workshop follows reports alleging widespread rights violations, including torture and Soviet-style political abuse of psychiatry.

Meanwhile, the IOC was upbeat in its assessment of Beijing's bid to host the 2008 Games, but refused to answer direct questions on human rights issues at a news conference on Saturday.

After an intense four-day tour of the city, the IOC team said it was impressed by overwhelming public support for the Beijing bid and an ambitious plan for a massive environmental cleanup.

Several human rights groups, pro-Tibet activists, US and British lawmakers have said Beijing should not host the Olympics until it improves civil liberties.

The IOC has cast doubts on plans to stage beach volleyball on Tiananmen Square, the site of the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy protesters.

Beijing proposed the site in a clear attempt to bury the ghosts of 1989.