Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-02-16-Speech-3-114"
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"en.20000216.8.3-114"2
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"Mr President, even though the Chamber is fairly empty at the moment, Parliament has a very high profile within the sphere of human rights. In this Chamber, we have expressed our concern and condemned regimes which oppress, torture, execute and discriminate against their citizens. This commitment creates unease and has an impact. We have seen proof of this on numerous occasions. Two weeks ago, I received a letter from the Chinese Embassy in Brussels. They expressed their consternation at the fact that our Parliament had condemned China and they devoted ten pages to explaining that our criticism was based upon misunderstanding.
This letter is only one example to show that what we do does not fall upon deaf ears, but is followed with close attention by the world around us. This is good and demonstrates the European Parliament’s important opinion-forming role. The EU’s role is important. We must therefore have a consistent, clear and coherent policy within the sphere of human rights. Now, there really is reason to be concerned about developments in China, despite the letter from the Chinese Embassy. Together with many others, this question will be discussed at the Geneva Summit in a couple of weeks’ time. We in the Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party are extremely keen that the EU should keep the flag flying and take vigorous action on this occasion. I was pleased when I heard Commissioner Patten’s observations on China, but a little concerned when I heard the doubts expressed by the President-in-Office of the Council.
A strongly worded resolution on China would be an important mark against a country where there are systematic abuses of human rights. Members of the spiritual, entirely peaceful, but now banned, Falun Gong movement have again been subjected to mass arrests. There are reports of torture, solitary confinement and even executions. Prison sentences of many years are being handed out to people without trial. Hundreds of members of the group are being sent to camps for “re-education”. This is wholly unacceptable. There are also persecutions of other groups such as Protestants and Catholics. China maintains that it respects freedom of religion, but all too many cases of violence against, and harassment of, religious leaders indicate that the opposite is the case. Nor are there any signs that the situation in Tibet is improving. There are still alarming reports from Tibet about torture, imprisonment and persecution. Basic human rights are not accepted in China. Nor are freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of organisation. Nor is there freedom of information now. In recent weeks, China has done all it can to restrict access to the Internet and to prevent citizens from communicating with, and receiving information from, other countries via the Internet and e-mail.
All this shows that the situation is distressing, and there are of course many possible strategies which could be adopted. Dialogue is one way, but it is not enough. We ought not to allow ourselves to be deceived by a situation in which China takes token action at the eleventh hour in order to create the appearance of improvements taking place. The Geneva Summit is an important opportunity for other countries to tell China that systematic abuses of human rights are not acceptable."@en1
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