Bao Tong : Beijing violates human rights , the UN should kick it out of Security Council
Beijing ( AsiaNews) - As every year, on the 22nd of October, China
will face the periodic review of its human rights situation by the UN Human
Rights Council . In
view of this appointment , Beijing has arrested a large number of activists who
denounce human rights violations of the government and those who have called on
the UN to deny China a seat in the Council. During
the appointment, the international community will also consider the complaint
brought by the Diocese of Hong Kong on violations of religious freedom in
mainland China.
Bao
Tong - a great political dissident , friend and personal secretary of Zhao
Ziyang under house arrest since the riots in Tiananmen Square - analyzes the
reasons behind the "schizophrenia" of the Chinese government , which
signs international conventions on human rights but then forgets to ratify them,
violating them with ferocious intensity . In
view of this behavior , he asks China to leave the United Nations Security. Below
is the full text.
In spite of the Chinese
Communist Party's denunciation of universal values, the Chinese government is
still seeking a role on the U.N. Human Rights Council. This is a sign that they
are looking to progress, and is worthy of recognition. As a citizen, I would
like the government to achieve this. China is a populous country, which offers
no human rights protection to its 1.3 billion people, which greatly devalues
its signing of the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The only obstacle comes from China itself. Fifteen years after signing the
international human rights covenants, China still hasn't ratified them; nor has
it implemented them so that Chinese people can genuinely feel their benefits. This
is quite baffling. If the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was
so determined to safeguard China against the ideology of universal values and
to boycott the human rights covenants, why did it send a special delegation to
the United Nations to sign them? Once they were signed, they should have been
ratified and implemented, not allowed to drag on in confusion like this for 15
years.
Herein lies the mystery. Perhaps this involved the deepest thought at the
highest levels, so an outsider has no way of knowing about it. But regardless
of what happened in the past, today's [leadership] should file away the old
scores of the past and take responsibility for making fresh choices: either the
immediate ratification and strict implementation of the international human
rights covenants, as a turning point towards the implementation of Article 35
of [China's] Constitution; or they should declare that the covenants and
Article 35 of the Constitution are in error, and withdraw from the U.N.
Security Council posthaste. This situation has gone on for 15 years, neither
fish nor fowl ... which doesn't befit the gravitas of a nation-state.
Some may say that China should withdraw from the international human rights
covenants and have done with it, but why withdraw from the U.N. Security
Council? My understanding is that the members of the Council, particularly the
permanent members, must be bound by the international human rights covenants. How
can a government which takes no responsibility for implementing the covenants
and its Constitution behave responsibly with regard to international treaties
and agreements? How can a government which safeguards only its own sovereignty,
but not the rights of its own citizens, protect global peace and security?
14/10/2020 11:01
15/03/2021 12:17