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China's Bravest Girl : The Legend of Hua Mu Lan.

Outlawed China Democracy Party Issues Statement To UN Rights Panel

BEIJING, Apr 6, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) The outlawed China Democracy Party (CDP) has condemned widespread political persecution and human rights abuses by the ruling Communist Party in a statement to the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

The statement, faxed to media organizations in Beijing Thursday, condemned the Communist Party's refusal to abide by universally accepted human rights norms, including freedom of association and the right of due process.

It called the long-term jailing of leading CDP members Xu Wenli, Qin Yongmin and Wang Youcai in 1998, the "harshest crackdown on political dissidents since the brutal treatment of student leaders after Tiananmen Square in 1989."

"In 1999, during a second wave of oppression launched against CDP leaders, dozens more were rounded up and summarily sentenced for simply this: the peaceable advocating of political pluralism," the statement said.

"Ironically, the only actual crimes in evidence were the flagrant human rights abuses perpetrated by the Chinese government against the political dissidents," it said.

The Chinese government's refusal to allow the CDP to legally register as an organization was a further violation of the right of freedom of association as stipulated in China's Constitution and in UN human rights treaties signed by the Chinese government, it said.

During their trials, Xu was not allowed to speak in his own defense, while Qin and Wang had no defense lawyers, violating their rights to due process as set out in the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and signed by China in 1998, it said.

The CDP was formed only after Beijing signed the civil and political covenant and the UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and represents "an historic attempt by pro-democracy forces within China to establish a transparent, peaceful opposition party," it said.

The CDP urged Chinese authorities to quickly ratify the two covenants.

The statement made no mention of attempts by the US government to table a resolution condemning China's human rights record at the ongoing UN meeting, but expressed the CDP's determination to form a political party based on "humanism".

Such a party would differ fundamentally from the ruling Communist Party which has used "class struggle and dictatorship" as methods to ensure its rule and "suppress humanism in every form," it said.

"The CDP believes that human rights, political stability and economic development have never been, nor will they ever be, mutually exclusive. To suggest otherwise is to insinuate that China is a primitive state." ((c) 2000 Agence France Presse)

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