Published by: World Tibet Network News 96/04/03 24:00 GMT

By Philippe Naughton

GENEVA, April 2 (Reuter) - The sister of jailed Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng gave her backing on Tuesday to a U.N. draft resolution censuring China for its human rights record.

The draft, co-sponsored by the European Union and the United States, is to come before the U.N. Human Rights Commission later this month. If adopted it would be the first condemnation of China's rights record by a United Nations body.

Beijing has managed to defeat similar draft resolutions for the past five years, often by a procedural "no-action" motion forcing it from the agenda, and it is expected to mount a fierce campaign to do so again this year.

Wei Shanshan, whose brother received a 14-year jail sentence last December for plotting to subvert the state, told a briefing sponsored by activists that she welcomed the European Union's decision to co-sponsor the resolution once again.

EU ministers agreed to sign up to the draft at a meeting in Turin on Friday. Diplomats said EU states had hoped to persuade Beijing to sign two major U.N. human rights covenants but negotiations had gone too slowly.

"Last weekend in Turin they decided that they'd back the resolution on China which means that the resolution has defeated the lure of money," Wei Shanshan said.

"We hope that all member states will be supporting this resolution," she added.

The draft has not yet been finalised but delegates said it was expected to be very similar to a text which failed by just one vote at last year's session of the 53-nation body after a Chinese no-action motion was defeated.

The language of that draft was considered moderate, expressing concern at reports of continuing violations in China and restrictions on fundamental freedoms.

The draft is not expected to mention Tibet, to avoid counter-accusations of interference in China's domestic political affairs, but to speak instead of alleged human rights violations against Tibetans themselves.

A recent Amnesty International report said human rights violations were continuing "on a massive scale," but rights activists say they would welcome even a weak resolution.

Delegates said it was too early to judge whether the draft had any chance of success. It is not expected to come before the Commission for about three weeks, leaving plenty of time for the behind-the-scenes bargaining characteristic of the U.N.'s highest human rights forum.

Robin Munro, director of the Hong Kong office of Human Rights Watch/Asia, said the Commission had an opportunity to send a "very strong moral signal" to Beijing.

"There is a great chance to have this resolution passed and I think it would do more than anything to bring home to the Chinese government the concern of the international community about human rights," Munro said.

Wei Shanshan, whose brother has already served some 16 years in Chinese jails and is seen as the father of China's struggling democracy movement, appeared to be more cautious about the resolution's chance of success.

In an apparent reference to Russia, she appealed to countries "who have enjoyed hardship and now know democracy" to back the resolution. Delegates said Moscow was expected to oppose the anti-China draft for fear that its own record in the rebel province of Chechnya would then come under attack.