The annual report on human rights released by the State Department
dealt separately with more than 180 countries. But much of the focus
was on China, where the Clinton administration's relations have grown
even more tense this week, and on Russia, where the administration is
intent on developing a relationship with the new leadership despite
the Russian crackdown in Chechnya.
For the first time, there was also considerable focus on Colombia,
in part because of Washington's decision to assist the military there
in the fight against a leftist insurgency and the narcotics trade.
On virtually every count, from crackdowns against organized dissent
to conditions in prisons, the report on China was harsh.
China's "poor human rights record deteriorated markedly throughout
the year, as the government intensified efforts to suppress dissent,
particularly organized dissent," the report said.
After noting actions against Falun Gong, the spiritual movement
whose top leaders were sentenced to long terms in prison in December,
the report charged that China "continued to commit widespread and
well-documented human rights abuses in violation of internationally
accepted norms," adding, "These abuses stemmed form the authorities'
extremely limited tolerance of public dissent aimed at the government,
fear of unrest, and the limited scope or inadequate implementation of
laws protecting basic freedoms."
In previous years, a fairly sharp debate in the administration on
how tough to be on China has often shaped the tone of the language.
But this time, officials said, the incontrovertible evidence that
the Beijing government had increased its crackdown on dissenters, in
particular the Falun Gong, had made it much easier for consensus. The
Falun Gong was banned last October.
The report's release came as the Clinton administration's
relationship with Beijing has faced renewed pressure. Beijing this
week announced a more belligerent policy toward Taiwan, a development
that made it harder for the administration to win congressional
approval of a permanent trading relationship with China. But some
members of Congress suggest that the tough language in the rights
report offers the administration some cover in that fight.
The tougher language and the detail of today's report on China were
warmly received by human rights groups and members of Congress who
have complained in the past that the State Department's annual report
was not sufficiently critical of rights abuses in China.
Human Rights Watch, a New York based group, called the assessment
"refreshingly candid about the dramatic deterioration" of human
rights.
The government in Beijing usually dismisses the human rights report
as a political document and traditionally inveighs against it. But
this year the report was released as the administration tried to
garner support in Europe for a resolution condemning China's human
rights practices at the United Nations Human Rights Commission's
annual conference in Geneva.
In documenting the problems with Beijing's human rights record in
the last year, the report said the government had tightened
restrictions on freedom of speech and the press and increased controls
on the Internet. It said that independent nongovernmental
organizations were banned from monitoring human rights conditions,
that forced labor in prisons remained a serious problem and that child
labor persisted.
On Tibet and Xinjiang, two regions where the government has cracked
down on minority populations, the report said restrictions on
"religion and other fundamental freedoms intensified."
In its assessment of Russia's human rights record, the report
basically repeated what senior administration officials have said
since the Chechnya conflict intensified last fall.
"Government forces killed numerous civilians through the use of
indiscriminate force in Chechnya, and security officials' beatings
resulted in numerous deaths," the report said. It added that Russian
officials had acknowledged that law enforcement officials had tortured
and severely beat detainees and inmates.
The report also took note of prison conditions in Russia, saying
that according to human rights groups, between 10,000 and 20,000
detainees and inmates die in jails annually.
Asked today about the reports of atrocities by Russian troops
against Chechen citizens, President Clinton said it was "imperative"
for the Russians to allow the "appropriate international agencies
unfettered access to do the right inquiries."
The administration has been asking the Russian government for such
access since the summit meeting in Turkey last fall of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, but so far Moscow
has resisted the request.
In contrast to its favorable critique of the China report, Human
Rights Watch said the report on Russia was not stern enough. The
administration alluded only to "allegations" of killings by Russian
forces in one Chechen city and played down the "deep complicity" of
Russian forces in widespread executions in Chechnya, the executive
director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, said.
On Colombia, the administration said the government's human rights
record remained poor. "Government forces continued to commit numerous,
serious abuses, including extrajudicial killings, at a level roughly
similar to that of 1998,' the report said. It added that the
authorities "rarely" brought to justice security and police officers
charged with human rights offenses.
ASHINGTON, Feb. 25 -- Using the
toughest terms since the pro-democracy movement was crushed in Beijing
more than a decade ago, the United States sharply criticized China
today for what it called a marked deterioration in human rights.
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