Albright Asks UN to Rebuke China for Lack Of Freedoms

The U.S. secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, urged the main United Nations human rights body Thursday to support the American effort to rebuke China for denying its citizens basic rights and freedoms.

"International Herald Tribune", Paris, Friday, March 24, 2000

GENEVA - The U.S. secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, urged the main United Nations human rights body Thursday to support the American effort to rebuke China for denying its citizens basic rights and freedoms. Mrs. Albright advocated that the 53-country UN Human Rights Commission rebuff any attempt by China to stifle debate on its human rights record. In recent years, China has made great progress in expanding social choices, building a new economy and lifting millions of people out of poverty," Mrs. Albright told the delegates assembled at the UN's European headquarters for the commission's annual meeting "But its human rights record does not match the obligations it has accepted," she said. Mrs. Albright, who broke away from President Bill Clinton's trip in India to fly to Geneva, said that China's "official policies have always fallen well short" of the international commitments it has made, and have "deteriorated markedly this past year."

Taking a hard line on Yugoslavia as well, she declared that President Slobodan Milosevic "richly merits condemnation by this commission." Mrs. Albright accused Mr. Milosevic of initiating four wars during the 1990s, including Kosovo, and said, "Now he is using the repressive powers of the state to intimidate independent media and political opposition at home." The United States is planning to introduce a resolution against Serbia. She did not expressly call for a resolution condemning alleged violations by Russian troops in the breakaway republic of Chechnya, even though she said that the U.S. government had "received persistent and credible reports of human rights violations by Russian forces in Chechnya, including extra-judicial killings."Even though the Russian government has agreed to name a human rights ombudsman and has invited Mary Robinson, the UN high commissioner for human rights, to visit early in April, Mrs. Albright said the "serious" allegations of violations "must be addressed rgently." She ca

lled on Moscow to conduct "a prompt and transparent investigation of all credible charges" and to provide the International Committee of the Red Cross with "unhindered access throughout Chechnya, including to all detainees." She also urged the Russian government to allow an assistance group from the organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to be re-established in the region. Mrs. Albright saved some of her toughest language for the Chinese, noting that in the past year "there were widespread arrests of those seeking to exercise their right to peaceful political expression." She added: "Authorities continue to limit the ability of Christians, Muslims and Buddhists to worship in accordance with customs and conscience." And minority groups have been barred from "fully exercising their cultural and linguistic heritage," she said. In her speech to assembled delegates, Mrs. Albright also urged support for other resolutions, introduced by other countries, that criticize Cuba, Sudan, Iraq and Burma.