RConversation: Obama's America to Hu Jintao's China on human rights: so far, deafening silence

Excerpted from RConversation:

The two photos below were taken by Sharon Hom of Human Rights in China around 10:30 a.m. last Friday in Geneva. Diplomats from a wide range of countries lined up for hours for a chance to sign up that afternoon for speaking slots in the U.N. Human Rights Council's review of China which took place on Monday morning. 111 countries signed up. The first 60 countries on the sign-up list got a chance to speak. [...] Australia and Canada got up early to be at the front of the line, and both expressed concerns about the Chinese government's human rights record. The UK and other European governments expressed concern later on. But voices of praise for the Chinese government's human rights record predominated. Overall, the session was considered a victory for the Chinese government's position that it is on the right track when it comes to respecting the rights of its people. Where was the U.S. delegation in this line?

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For more information on this issue:

• “Draft Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review,” UN Human Rights Council, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/PAGES/CNSession4.aspx ;
• Human Rights in China, “China Rejects UN Recommendations for Substantive Reform to Advance Human Rights; HRIC Summary,” February 11, 2009, http://hrichina.org/public/contents/128130;
• HRIC provides four charts that track UPR recommendations:

  Summary Chart of Rejected UPR Recommendations [PDF, 45K]

  Summary Chart of Accepted UPR Recommendations [PDF, 42K]

  Summary Chart of UPR Recommendations Already Implemented [PDF, 18K]

  Summary Chart of UPR Recommendations to Be Examined [PDF, 20K]

• Human Rights in China, “China's UN Human Rights Review: New Process, Old Politics, Weak Implementation Prospects,” February 9, 2009, http://hrichina.org/public/contents/127014;
• Human Rights Council: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/;
• Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): http://www.ohchr.org;
• Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review (UPR): http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRMain.aspx;
• China’s National Report:
  http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session4/CN/A_HRC_WG6_4_CHN_1_E.pdf (Eng);
  
  http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session4/CN/A_HRC_WG6_4_CHN_1%20China%20national%20report.pdf (Chi);
• Human Rights in China’s UPR Parallel NGO Report:
  http://hrichina.org/public/PDFs/Submissions/2008_HRIC_UPR_Report.pdf (Eng);

  http://hrichina.org/public/PDFs/HRIC_UPR_Submission_on_China_September_2008-CHI.pdf(Chi);

• Human Rights in China’s NGO Parallel Report submitted to the Committee against Torture (CAT): http://hrichina.org/public/PDFs/Submissions/HRIC-CAT-2008-FINAL.pdf;
• Concluding Observations of the CAT: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/CAT.C.CHN.CO.4.pdf;
• Chinese government’s response to the Concluding Observations of the CAT:
  http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/CAT.C.CHN.CO.4.pdf (Eng);

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/co/CAT-C-CHN-CO4_ch.pdf (Chi).