Beijing

20 Aug 2002

The United Nations' top human rights official says Beijing must not use the war on terrorism as an excuse to boost repression of groups the government does not like. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson made the comment Tuesday, after meetings with top Chinese officials. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights says China has used a special anti-crime campaign to increase police powers of arrest and detention.

Ms. Robinson says the government used the last year's terror attacks in the United States as a reason for its crackdown. [...]

She says the campaign also threatens followers of Falun Gong, thousands of whom have been shipped to labor camps, often without trial. "These are very serious and worrying issues."

Ms. Robinson says she raised her concerns in meetings with Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen and other senior officials in Beijing. She brought a long list of human rights cases to those meetings, including people detained on political grounds rather than for crimes.

[...]

Ms. Robinson is on a final tour of Asia before she leaves office next month. She also will visit Cambodia and East Timor.

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