An open letter written by MEP Istvan Szent-Ivanyi reminds China's ambassador in Brussels of the European Parliament's calls for urgent progress in the field of human rights

Below is an open letter written by Hungarian MEP Szent-Ivanyi  Istvan:

H.E. Mr GUAN Chengyuan

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Head of Mission of the People's Republic of China
to the European Communities

Brussels, 18 February 2008

Your Excellency,

On 18 December 2007, I had the privilege of hosting a conference in the European Parliament under the title "Human Rights in China: No Olympic Medal" with the participation of Sakharov Prize laureates Mr Wei Jingsheng, Archbishop Dom Zacharias Kamwenho and a representative of Reporters Without Borders. A statement by Mr Aliaksandr Milinkevich was also read at the conference.

It was the unequivocal opinion of the participating Sakharov Prize laureates, Members of the European Parliament and non-governmental organisations that the awarding of the Olympic Games to Beijing in 2001 has unfortunately so far failed to have a significant positive impact on human rights in China, and - on the contrary - it is frequently used to crush dissenting voices inside the country. The participants have expressed their concern about the fact that the Chinese government has been more eager to use the upcoming events to strengthen its internal and international legitimacy than to concentrate on the genuine improvement of its human rights record.

I take this opportunity to reiterate previous calls of the European Parliament on the People's Republic of China to make progress on a number of outstanding human rights issues, including the ratification and implementation of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to stop political imprisonments, ill-treatment and torture in detention places and to stop the crackdowns on human rights activists and lawyers defending the rights of Chinese citizens.

I would be grateful if you could forward these concerns to your Government. I take this opportunity to assure you of my highest consideration.

Yours sincerely,

 
István Szent-Iványi, MEP

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe