Human rights issues are being discussed more frequently and more
openly in China since the country's ratification of the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights two
years ago, a senior United Nations (UN) human rights official said.
In
an interview with China's bimonthly magazine Human Rights,
Kerstin Leitner, resident representative of the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) to China, called the ratification of
the covenant "a truly milestone event" in China's efforts to
embrace international human rights standards and principles.
"Since then, I have seen many more references to human rights and
much more openness than before to discuss human rights issues,"
Leitner said.
The debate which took place in preparation for the covenant's
ratification caused State administrations and academic circles to
think more carefully about what it means in practice, Leitner
noted.
"So, when the covenant was ratified, I think many more people were
convinced that this was a useful tool for pursuing China's reform
and development agenda," she added.
The UNDP representative, who has been in China for more than five
years, elaborated on the changes brought about by the ratification
of the covenant.
"Before the ratification, everyone felt nervous, but after the
ratification, people felt comfortable dealing with human rights
issues," she said.
However, she conceded that there are still many questions which
arise when applying human rights to economic, social and cultural,
and eventually, to civil and political rights.
"To find the right response to arising issues, a lot of
interaction, a lot of debate is necessary, to ensure that the
protection of the rights of individual citizens is realized in the
concrete situation of the country, and a strong legal system has to
be in place," she said.
Talking about the ongoing co-operation between her office and the
Chinese Government in the field of human rights, Leitner said that
her office's role is to make sure that the UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights and his staff are comprehensively briefed on what is
going on in China.
"We need to avoid misjudging a situation due to the lack of
information, which could lead to misunderstandings," she
stressed.
The UNDP is currently carrying out a programme in support of
China's legal reforms, which complements the technical assistance
co-operation that the Human Rights High Commissioner has worked on
with Chinese institutions, she noted.
(China Daily June 12, 2003)