The European Parliament has adopted during the Plenary Session in Strasbourg today (April 26 2007) its Annual Report on Human Rights in the World 2006. A specific paragraph of the report concerns China, where it is stated that “despite significant economic reforms, political and human rights concerns still persist regarding such matters as political imprisonment, forced labour, freedom of expression and religion, rights of religious and ethnic minorities”. On the Tibetan issue, the European Parliament “calls on the Council and the Commission to raise the issue of Tibet and to actively support the strengthening of the dialogue between the Chinese Government and envoys of the Dalai Lama”. After the Resolution on the dialogue process between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese Government adopted the 15 February this year, this new message send to the Commission and the EU Council reflects the determination of the European Parliament to support the dialogue process in view of finding a peaceful and sustainable settlement for Tibet.
Full Report available at: www.europarl.europa.eu
Section on China:
“Emphasises the need to strengthen and improve the EU-China human rights dialogue considerably; recognises that China has now decided to have all death penalty cases reviewed by the Supreme Court, but remains concerned that China still carries out the majority of executions worldwide; stresses that China’s human rights record remains a matter of serious concern; calls on the Council to provide a more detailed briefing to Parliament in public session following discussions; stresses the importance of reiterating points that were raised in previous dialogues; supports the Commission and the Council in their current reflections on ways of improving the dialogue; notes that, despite significant economic reforms, political and human rights concerns still persist regarding such matters as political imprisonment, forced labour, freedom of expression and religion, rights of religious and ethnic minorities, the Laogai camp system and allegations of organ harvesting; notes that such concerns should receive more focus in the build-up to the Beijing Olympic games; urges the EU to ensure that its trading relationship with China is contingent upon human rights reforms and calls in this regard on the Council to make a comprehensive evaluation of the human rights situation before finalising any new Partnership and Cooperation Framework Agreement; calls on the Council and the Commission to raise the issue of Tibet and to actively support the strengthening of the dialogue between the Chinese Government and envoys of the Dalai Lama”.