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Minister for Foreign Affairs:
Any decision by the Canadian Government to end its annual human rights
dialogue with China is a matter for the Canadian authorities and it
would not be appropriate for me to comment. The EU cooperates closely
with Canada in seeking to promote respect for human rights throughout
the world.
The EU-China Human Rights Dialogue (HRD), which was established in 1996,
has served as the main forum for discussion of human rights issues at
the European Union level. However, human rights are a constant point of
discussion with the Chinese authorities, both at the national and at the
EU level.
The HRD, the most recent round of which took place in Beijing in October
2006, has allowed the EU to engage with China on such issues as freedom
of expression, the death penalty, the independence of the judiciary and
freedom of religion. The EU has used the Dialogue to press its case for
Chinese ratification of such international instruments as the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and, in
that context, reform of the criminal justice system. The EU has also
urged China to continue cooperation with, and to implement the
recommendations of, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, including in
particular the abolition of the "re-education through labour" system.
The EU continues to use the HRD to raise significant individual human
rights cases.
Equally, the EU provides support for the Dialogue process, for example
through regular EU-China Human Rights Seminars, the most recent of which
took place in Beijing in October. These seminars give EU human rights
experts, including Irish representatives, the opportunity to share their
expertise on human rights related topics with Chinese representatives.
Seminars have focused on issues such as labour rights, freedom of access
to information, human rights education and implementing the
recommendations of human rights mechanisms. An expert level meeting of
the Ireland-China Human Rights Academic Exchange took place in Galway on
31 March/1 April 2006, with the participation of six Chinese academic
experts.
In our view, the process allows for genuine dialogue and a constructive
and pragmatic approach to improving human rights standards. Obviously
major concerns remain, but I believe that in the case of China it is
only through dialogue that genuine pressure for change can be sustained.
The EU keeps the functioning of the Dialogue under review to seek to
ensure the greatest possible effectiveness.
On a bilateral level, of course Ireland continues to raise human rights
issues with China at every possible opportunity. In a meeting with
Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing on 12 May, during a visit to
Beijing, I brought up our concerns in the area of human rights. Foreign
Minister Li referred in particular to China's commitment to the EU-China
Human Rights Dialogue. Most recently, the Tánaiste held official talks
on 25 September with visiting Chinese Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan in the
course of which he also raised human rights issues and concerns. |
