Beijing fires back: “Liu Xiaobo committed crimes against the state”
UN Watch testimony before the UN Human Rights Council, 19th Session, March 2, 2012, Geneva, delivered by executive director Hillel Neuer.
Thank you, Madam President.
Madam High Commissioner,
United Nations Watch welcomes your annual report and the important work of your office. We greatly appreciate today’s valuable opportunity to engage in this interactive dialogue with you on your report.
UN Watch expresses its support for your efforts in Burundi, Haiti and the DRC to combat impunity for past violations.
For present victims, ongoing violations are of no lesser concern. Chronic and worsening situations of gross and systematic human rights abuse affect dissidents, activists, peaceful protesters, student leaders, defenders of women’s rights and many more who are in need of vital protection.
That is why UN Watch welcomes the important news, from the report that is before us today, concerning your proposed visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the preparatory mission conducted by your colleagues in December. We commend the mission for expressing its concerns in regard to the ongoing situation of human rights in Iran.
As underscored by the resolution adopted on 19 December by the General Assembly, and by the Human Right Council mandate created last year and soon to be renewed, the human rights victims in Iran are desperately in need of your full attention and vigorous action.
Madam High Commissioner,
Your report mentions your recent legal brief in the European Court of Human Rights, and there was another in the US Supreme Court. Certainly a legal intervention by the UN’s highest human rights official is a powerful tool, especially if used in jurisdictions that are less developed in their judicial independence, democratic institutions and rule of law tradition.
Accordingly, would you contemplate submitting legal briefs to the Egyptian court where NGO human rights defenders are currently being prosecuted; in the Chinese court that can free jailed Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo; and in the Pakistani court that has the power to stop the execution of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five who was convicted, without any foundation, on the crime of blasphemy?
Thank you, Madam President.
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CHINA RESPONDS TO UN WATCH
My delegation also categorically rejects the comments made by a few NGOs, especially by UN Watch, concerning the case of Liu Xiaobo.
Liu Xiaobo has committed crimes against the state and was therefore sentenced by the Court. As a country with the rule of law, my country has always emphasized that all people are equal before the law.
Anyone who carries out criminal activities and threatens state security and the public interest will be dealt with by the public authorities in China in accordance with our law.
