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25 February 2000
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HR/00/15
25 February 2000
UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS HIGH COMMISSIONER TO VISIT CHINA
FOR REGIONAL RIGHTS WORKSHOP AND TALKS ON
COOPERATION WITH GOVERNMENT
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson will travel to China from 29 February to 2 March to open the Eighth Workshop on Regional Cooperation for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Asia and Pacific Region. The High Commissioner will also hold further talks with the Chinese Government on the establishment of a programme of technical cooperation and discuss a number of human rights issues.
The Workshop will bring together Governments of the region and observers from human rights national institutions and non-governmental organizations to review the developments within the Framework for Technical Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region agreed in Tehran in 1998. Participants will assess in particular the results of inter-sessional gatherings, identify the next steps to be taken by the region’s Governments to facilitate cooperation on human rights and discuss regional preparations for the World Conference against Racism to be held in South Africa next year.
This will be the High Commissioner's third visit to China. During her first visit, in September 1998, Mrs. Robinson and the Chinese authorities initiated a dialogue on a number of human rights concerns and signed a 'Memorandum of Intent' that set in motion a process for concluding a technical cooperation agreement. The High Commissioner will continue this dialogue and pursue the formalization of a technical cooperation programme through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding. Areas of cooperation could include assisting China in its preparation for ratification of the International Covenants on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and on Civil and Political Rights, which the country has already signed. The High Commissioner will also raise a number of human rights issues.
Speaking before leaving for China, the High Commissioner said she welcomed the continued applicability of the Covenants in the Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions after they reverted to Chinese sovereignty and stressed the importance of China's stated commitment to ratify the instruments.
"China's ratification and application of the Covenants would extend their protection to a quarter of the world's population. There can be no more concrete reaffirmation of the universality of the human rights enshrined in the Covenants", she said.
Mrs Robinson also noted progress achieved in China in the area of economic and social rights, including increased longevity, health and literacy. "The implementation of an enlightened human development agenda in China is intricately linked to the effective promotion and protection of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights", she said, adding: "My Office stands ready to assist China in this challenge".
25 February 2000
UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS HIGH COMMISSIONER TO VISIT CHINA
FOR REGIONAL RIGHTS WORKSHOP AND TALKS ON
COOPERATION WITH GOVERNMENT
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson will travel to China from 29 February to 2 March to open the Eighth Workshop on Regional Cooperation for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Asia and Pacific Region. The High Commissioner will also hold further talks with the Chinese Government on the establishment of a programme of technical cooperation and discuss a number of human rights issues.
The Workshop will bring together Governments of the region and observers from human rights national institutions and non-governmental organizations to review the developments within the Framework for Technical Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region agreed in Tehran in 1998. Participants will assess in particular the results of inter-sessional gatherings, identify the next steps to be taken by the region’s Governments to facilitate cooperation on human rights and discuss regional preparations for the World Conference against Racism to be held in South Africa next year.
This will be the High Commissioner's third visit to China. During her first visit, in September 1998, Mrs. Robinson and the Chinese authorities initiated a dialogue on a number of human rights concerns and signed a 'Memorandum of Intent' that set in motion a process for concluding a technical cooperation agreement. The High Commissioner will continue this dialogue and pursue the formalization of a technical cooperation programme through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding. Areas of cooperation could include assisting China in its preparation for ratification of the International Covenants on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and on Civil and Political Rights, which the country has already signed. The High Commissioner will also raise a number of human rights issues.
Speaking before leaving for China, the High Commissioner said she welcomed the continued applicability of the Covenants in the Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions after they reverted to Chinese sovereignty and stressed the importance of China's stated commitment to ratify the instruments.
"China's ratification and application of the Covenants would extend their protection to a quarter of the world's population. There can be no more concrete reaffirmation of the universality of the human rights enshrined in the Covenants", she said.
Mrs Robinson also noted progress achieved in China in the area of economic and social rights, including increased longevity, health and literacy. "The implementation of an enlightened human development agenda in China is intricately linked to the effective promotion and protection of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights", she said, adding: "My Office stands ready to assist China in this challenge".