Fennecus
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2009-02-10 Agence France-Presse
China dismissed allegations of repression of Tibetans and Uighur Muslims during a U.N. hearing yesterday and said it was preparing a "first of its kind" human rights action plan."At this moment, about 50 governmental agencies are working on a human rights action plan. which would soon be made public," said Li Baodong, China's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva. "It is the first of its kind in China and will set targets for all departments, in a major move to advance human protection in China," he told the U.N. Human Rights Council during the "Universal Periodic Review" session.
All 192 member states of the U.N. have to go through such a review of their human rights records once every four years.
During the three-hour-long session, only a handful of Western countries such as Australia questioned China about allegations of "harrassment and detention of religious and ethnic minorities including Tibetans."
But most countries steered away of criticism, while Pakistan and Sri Lanka leaped to the defense of Beijing, saying Tibet is an "inalienable" part of China.
Li rebuffed Australia's claim in his concluding statement and insisted that the 47-member Human Rights Council was not an arena for "politicized speeches."
"There were a few countries like Australia, which made some ill-founded comments on question of Tibet. We would categorically reject this attempt to politicize the issue," he said.
In his opening statement on China's report on human rights, Li did not refer to Tibet or Xinjiang in particular, but said that Beijing "pursues a policy of ethnic equality" and that ethnic minorities "benefit from preferential policies."
A member of the Chinese delegation also outlined that Beijing allows regional autonomy in areas with significant proportions of ethnic minorities, and stressed that "there is no ethnic conflict" in China.
"Regrettably, a few people with external forces try to split Tibet and Xinjiang. They by no means represent Tibetans and Uighurs. (Tibet and Xinjiang) are inseparable parts of China," he added.
However, human rights groups charge that authorities maintain tight security in Tibet following violent protests against Chinese rule there last March, while ethnic Muslim Uighurs claim a vast campaign of persecution in the western region of Xinjiang.
Amnesty International last week also charged that Beijing "omits reference to the ongoing crisis in Tibet, the severe crackdown on Uighurs in China's western Xinjiang region, and the on-going persecution of various religious practitioners."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j5sMdaTC6B3YdzcvySR1gRkdM7Iw
Thank you, Pakistan.
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