Human Rights Violations
Copyright © 1997 Karen Barker
-- All Rights Reserved.
China has already been identified as a nation which many countries of the world consider to be human rights violator. Does China violate human rights? In a world of sovereign nations, how can China be convinced to honor the international definition of human rights?
In the recent two years China has been deemed the world most dynamic human right violator.Although the Universal Declaration of Human Rights decreed in 1948, offered some implications for how a government should be structured. The Chinese government continue its tyrant interpretation of Human Rights and have not consulted in development of that document, " disinclined to let human rights considerations interfere with their reach for power and social revolution." They argue that what constitutes a human right issue and its position is more tenable in some cases than in others. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights allows " such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedom of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society."
By 1966, the United Nation (China was still excluded) adopted two detailed covenants on human rights. To present, many countries have adopted them in their constitution. China, however has remained stringent in its minor revised policy concerning the human rights issue. Since 1980 China has acceded to nine less controversial conventions on human rights, including those on the rights of women, children, refugees, those against genocide, racial discrimination and torture. But there are still many human rights issues that China has adamantly breach on, such as the forced sterilization of women, convict labor " reeducation through labor ", working condition for workers, denial of political rights, lack of property rights and the list continues. The question of religion in China is repressive even by the standards of communist countries ( compared to Vietnam). " Believers who acknowledge leadership abroad (Roman Catholics, Tibetan Buddhists) are subject to severe persecution."
How can China be convinced to honor the international definition of human rights? The answer lies in the pressure placed on China's Trade and international relation with the world of sovereign nations and the world investors. Already China has received pressure from U.S investors, such as Levis Strauss and Co. Former president of U.S-China Business Council, Roger Sullivan suggested that, " Clinton should promise U.S companies that Washington will stand up for them if they raise humanrights concerns and the chinese retaliate." An example was, " the release of a few leading political prisoners- part of a (successful) bid to get China's low-tariff most favored nation trade status with the United States renewed." The human right issue in Chinamust be examined under a microscopic eye, for each problem is delicate and complicated.