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February 26, 2000

U.S. Report Harshly Criticizes China for Deterioration of Human Rights; Russia Also Faulted

By JANE PERLEZ
WASHINGTON, 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.

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.
CHINA AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Text

  • 1999 Human Rights Report, published by the U.S. State Department on Feb. 25, 2000.

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  • 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.




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