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China 'should not be reelected' to UN Human Rights Council

General Assembly votes to choose new members on Oct. 28
China 'should not be reelected' to UN Human Rights Council
Published: October 25, 2016 10:52 AM GMT
Updated: October 25, 2016 10:55 AM GMT

Due to its horrendous human rights record, China should not be reelected to the U.N. Human Rights Council, says a leading Chinese activist.

"Candidates for the U.N. Human Rights Council, according to General Assembly Resolution 60/251, are supposed to be countries that 'uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights,'" wrote Yang Jianli president of Initiatives for China and former Tiananmen Square activist for the Washington Post.

"By any stretch of the imagination, no reasonable person could really believe that China's inclusion in the Human Rights Council would cause it to 'behave' — that is, to meet its obligations to respect and protect human rights — not only under the several international treaties it has signed, but also under its own constitution," Yang stated in his op-ed which highlighted China's human rights record over the past three years while it has been a member of the council.

"During the past three years, China has continued its repressive policies against Christians, Tibetans, Uighurs, Mongolians, Falun Gong practitioners and Hong Kong democrats," he wrote.

"By any sensible standard, voting to put China on the council again would be like picking the fox to guard the henhouse — while he was still wiping the feathers off his mouth from his last meal."

The U.N. General Assembly will vote to choose new members for its Human Rights Council on Oct. 28. Other countries with dubious human rights records such as Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia currently sit on the council and are also up for reelection.

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