Rights Group Says Conditions in China Worsen as Olympics Near

Beijing was quick to deny Human Rights Watch’s recent report for the year of 2006 by saying that 'Human Rigths Watch's criticism is biased, untrue'. China to this day still considers their human rights condition to be ‘domestic affairs’ and respectfully asks for the rest of the world to bud out. Somebody please tell them that it doesn't work that way.


Now the burning question is: Should EU fill the leadership void on human rights because of this? I think they should especially if Royal wins the French presidency. Look here for more on that topic.


Here are some excerpts from news reports:

BEIJING, Jan. 12 — Human rights conditions in China deteriorated last year even as China sought to portray itself as an increasingly open, modern society ahead of the 2008 Olympics, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Friday. (more)

…..about 100 activists, lawyers, writers and academics subjected to police custody, house arrest, incommunicado confinement, pressure in their jobs and surveillance by plainclothes security forces, a new report by Human Rights Watch said. (more)

China: By pouring investment into countries guilty of widespread rights abuses, China put its own economic and political interests above the rights of mistreated citizens. Among such countries were Sudan and Zimbabwe. (more)

Human Rights Watch said that the fast-paced construction and redesign of Beijing's transportation system ahead of the Olympics had worsened some problems for residents of the capital, with many hundreds of thousands evicted from their family homes with inadequate compensation and no recourse to the legal system. (more)