Beijing admits "unsatisfactory" progress on human rights
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Wang Chen, minister of the information office of the state council, in an interview cited today by Xinhua, acknowledges that improvements in human rights "are unsatisfactory," although he is paying special attention to the legal system, education, and social security, without mentioning arbitrary arrests and the censorship of the media and speech. Wang defends "the right of every government," in the area of human rights, "to adopt various measures according to the respective national situations."
Tomorrow, the United Nations celebrates the 60th anniversary of the declaration of human rights, and the group Chinese Human Rights Defenders is remembering the many citizens who have been detained, interrogated, or threatened because they want to commemorate the event.
Zhang Zuhua and Liu Xiaobo (in the photo) have signed "Charter 08," a document presented today calling for greater democracy and protection of human rights, signed by pro-democracy activists but also by communist officials and rural leaders. Last night in Beijing, the police interrogated them, confiscated their computers, calendars, passports, and credit cards. Liu is still being held in jail.
Wen Kejian, also a signer of Charter 08, has been warned by the police not to meet with other activists, and not to leave the city of Hangzhou. Chen Xi, Shen Younian, and Du Heping were arrested by the police on December 4 in Guiyang (Guizhou), because - according to their friends - they wanted to celebrate the anniversary on December 10.
Yesterday, the government of Xintai (Shandong) was accused of keeping at least 18 people in a psychiatric hospital since 2006, because they wanted to present protest petitions against corruption and misgovernment. It appears that they were released only after signing a statement that they would not present any more protests.
Yesterday, the people's high court in Hebei ruled that the lawsuit presented by the parents of 63 infants with kidney problems because of melamine-contaminated milk is inadmissible. According to their lawyers, the court said that official investigations are still underway in the scandal that has sickened more than 290,000 infants.
Law professor He Weifang tells the South China Morning Post that this "is serious." "The courts should deal with the case strictly according to the law, not basing their decisions on the instructions of the authorities or on [official] documents. If the courts do not respect the law, the people can have no more trust."
In the early days of the scandal, the authorities promised to provide compensation for damages and to pay for medical care. Yang Yong, whose 13-month-old son is hospitalized in Xuzhou (Jiangsu) with kidney problems, has already had to borrow 20,000 yuan for emergency care alone.
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