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China submits rights record to UN | |
(about 16 hours later) | |
China has submitted its first report on its human rights record for review by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. | |
The document focuses on improvements brought about by economic development, but also admits that China faces serious challenges. | |
The report will be reviewed by a three-country panel, which will then make recommendations by Wednesday. | |
Analysts say the process puts China's frequently-criticised rights record under unprecedented scrutiny. | |
The council - which replaced the discredited UN Human Rights Commission - has no enforcement powers, but does have considerable moral authority. | |
Rigorous scrutiny? | |
China's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Li Baodong, defended his country's rights record to the council. | |
"China is the world's largest developing country. We are fully aware of our difficulties and challenges in the field of human rights," he said. | |
FROM THE BBC WORLD SERVICE class="" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/index.shtml">More from BBC World Service | |
He said there was still a sizeable number of people on low incomes and an imbalance between those in the countryside and those in the towns. | |
"Medical and health-care services and the social security system still fall short of our people's needs," he said. | |
Under questioning from some of the European delegates in the council, he defended China's use of the death penalty. | |
And he hit back at a number of Western countries, including Australia, that raised the alleged repression of Tibetans and Uighurs. | |
"We would categorically reject this attempt to politicise the issue," he said. | |
Some human rights activists were angered by the presentation, saying China had failed to address such key concerns as persecution on religious and ethnic grounds and press censorship. | |
But Nigeria's envoy to the UN in Geneva, Martin Uhomoibhi, who holds the council's rotating presidency, spoke positively of China's efforts. | |
"We are impressed by the efforts [China] has made to take this country out of slums and poverty," he told the BBC, adding that China had invited UN officials to assess the situation for themselves. | |
Delegates from Nigeria, India and Canada will now review China's report, and are set to make recommendations to China by Wednesday. | |
All UN member states are expected to report at regular intervals on their human rights record under the newly-launched UPR process. | |
But analysts say that China's report has been especially eagerly awaited. | |
Human rights groups say it is essential that China's rights record comes under rigorous scrutiny. | |
They say that a failure to address alleged violations will discredit the UN Human Rights Council. | |
China's human rights record has been criticised for years. | |
Human rights groups claim that today, 20 years after the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government continues to persecute political dissenters, and to deny press freedom. |