Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-01-17-Speech-4-177"
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"en.20080117.19.4-177"2
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"Madam President, only a month ago my colleague, Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner, expressed in this Chamber the Commission’s deep concern at the continuous and systematic repression of human rights’ defenders in China. The Commission was, therefore, all the more concerned to learn about Mr Hu Jia’s arbitrary detention and recalls that he has been subjected to repeated acts of harassment in the past due to human rights activities.
We also express our concern for Mr Hu Jia’s health. He suffers from hepatitis B and must take daily medication. It is not clear whether daily access to the medical treatment he needs is guaranteed and whether he can count on doctors’ assistance during his detention in the Beijing Municipal Detention Centre in Dougezhuang.
In the Commission’s view, the detention of Mr Hu Jia places an obligation on the EU to act in a firm manner because of the clear inference that he was arrested as a consequence of speaking freely and honestly about the repression of human rights defenders via a telephone link to a meeting of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights in November 2007.
As such, it has echoes of the case of Cao Dong, a Falun Gong petitioner, who was arrested and is still in prison after meeting the Vice-President of the European Parliament in Beijing in May 2006. The detention of Mr Hu Jia also calls for a reaction from the EU as an international actor for the protection of human rights defenders. Yesterday the EU troika carried out a firm démarche to the Chinese authorities asking for his immediate release. We sincerely hope that the Chinese authorities will understand that the issue of human rights defenders has an important impact on China’s standing with the European public and will act accordingly.
I would like to reassure this Chamber that the EU will monitor very closely the evolution of Mr Hu Jia’s case.
The Commission would like to use this opportunity to urge again the Chinese Government to permit expressions of all forms of opinion. This is an important factor in how the international public views China, especially this year, when the eyes of the world will be on China in the build-up to the Olympic Games. We are convinced that a far more stable society can be achieved by allowing freedom of expression.
Let me close by saying that the Commission will intensify its efforts to seek an improvement of the overall human rights situation in China. In this respect, we will continue to play an instrumental role within the troika in preparing the EU-China human rights dialogue and seminar so that discussions continue to become more target-focussed.
Despite the slow progress in the human rights situation in China, we firmly believe that the EU-China human rights dialogue remains one of the most effective ways of engaging China in frank and detailed discussions with a view to achieving human rights reforms on the ground."@en1
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