China: not progressing on Human Rights

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According to the new report from Amnesty International, China has not fulfilled its promise to protect Human Rights for the Olympics Game of 2008:

The report catalogs a wide range of persistent abuses, from extensive use of detention without trial to the persecution of civil rights activists and new methods to rein in the domestic media and censor the Internet.
The London-based group welcomed the new rules for foreign journalists and the referral of all death sentences to China's Supreme Court since the start of the year. "Disappointingly, they have been matched by moves to expand detention without trial and house arrest of activists, and by a tightening of controls over domestic media and the Internet," Catherine Baber, deputy Asia-Pacific director of Amnesty International, said in a statement.
China's Foreign Ministry in a statement Monday rejected the report, saying the government was improving its legal system and promoting democracy. "We are conscientiously fulfilling our promise for the Olympics. ... The progress China has achieved in human rights cannot be slandered by a report from an individual organization with political prejudice," the statement said.

What is more AI denounces China is using the Olympics to increase its pressure on dissidents:

A report by the group welcomed some reforms, but criticised China's detentions without trial and tightened control of the media and the internet.

Precisely the limits imposed on freedom of speech are one of the more worrying. And internet is precisely one of the places were it is more limites. MySpace is already on in Chinese internet... with some restrictions:

Attempts to post on topics that are deemed inappropriate by the Chinese Government will result in the message: "Sorry, the article you want to publish may contain inappropriate content. Please delete the unsuitable content, and then try reposting it. Thank you." Even searching for blacklisted keywords results in the same warning.

Anyway, Chinese evident lack of progress on Human Rights has had some benefits: Chinese Censorship Chief receives French Highest Honor.

Long Xinmin, rewarded with the Légion d'Honneur at the French Embassy in Beijing, is a dignitary of the Chinese regime. He is the chief of the censorship administration, an administration that controls all newspapers, television and, of course, the Chinese Internet. It does not hesitate to send to prison those who do not respect the strict rules of the propaganda. Officially, Mr. Long has received the medal for being a francophile. But even inside the communist party, he's considered as a hardliner, a conservative that has recently been harsher with Chinese bloggers.

Canada has been assured that China had not tortured Canadian citizen Huseyin Celil, a Canadian citzen accused by Chinese authorities of "separating China" and "organizing, leading and participating in terrorist groups, organizations". I wonder if they would be soooo worried if this Canadian citizen was Christian, Jewish or Buddhist...

We will also see if Al Gore sells any of his videos to China, as the pollution there is growing rapidly: it will be this year the more important polluter:

Currently, 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are located in China, and it is the second largest emitter of energy-related carbon dioxide after the United States. China relies on coal for 70 percent of its energy needs, and discharges a large amount of pollutants into its rivers. The increase of the economy's energy demands is also the cause of higher greenhouse gas levels, as many Chinese companies build coal-fired plants and operate them without the government's consent.

In the same link there says that AlGore has spoken about Chinese environment... in USA. It would be very good to try to speak about this with Chinese authorities...

Other news:

Rich Chinese fancy expensive cars. The most exclusive car brands are among those experiencing the fastest growth. Jenny Zheng, Rolls-Royce's general manager for greater China, says the company's China sales jumped more than 60% last year from the year before. She says China overtook Japan for the first time in 2006, though she declined to cite actual figures. Globally, the brand has sold 805 cars, each one tailor-made to the owner's demands, she says. Well, this is logical considering that China is communist... or not?

China moves to restrict lending.
Thousands of Chinese mines and cement workers are dying each year from breathing of coal and cement dust. "The lung disease known as "black lung" or pneumoconiosis accounts for three quarters of all occupational deaths, health officials said. China's coal mines are the most deadly in the world. An average of 17 miners are killed in mining accidents each day, the official People's Daily newspaper reports. Independent labour groups believe the death toll is much higher". "Of 677,000 occupational disease cases reported in China since the 1950s, more than 90% were pneumoconiosis cases, health ministry spokesperson Su Zhi said. Last year alone, the black lung disease accounted for 76% of the 11,000 new occupational disease cases reported. 621 of the pneumoconiosis cases reported last year involved workers under the age of 18".
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Un informe de Amnistía Internacional vuelve a denunciar que China sigue sin respetar los derechos humanos, a pesar de haber prometido hacerlo para la inauguración de los Juegos Olímpicos. Entre otras cosas, el informe denuncia las detenciones sin juicio y las restricciones a la libertad de expresión, así como que parece que se está aprovchando precisamente los JJOO para incrementar la presión sobre los disidentes.

Por supuesto, China lo ha negado diciendo que "los evidentes procesos en materia de Derechos Humano van a ser dismiuidos en importancia por una organizacion con prejuicios políticos".

Sin embargo,las restricciones en Internet continúan: ahora es MySpace la que tiene un filtro que impide postear material considerado "no apropiado", de tal forma que si no lo quitas el post no puedes postearlo.

Eso sí, Francia ha concedido al censor mayor de ... la Republica Popular China la legion de Honor, porque es "muy francófilo". Y mientras Canadá está muy aliviada después de que las autoridades chinas hayan asegurado que no han torturado a un ciudadano canadiense, acusado de intentar separar China y de "pertenecer a organizaciones subversivas, terroristas o semejantes". El ciudadano en cuestión es musulmán, y, considerando loable que defiendan a sus ciudadanos, habría que preguntrse si hubieran mantenido la misma postura, si Husiyen Celil hubiera pertenecido a otra religión.

Asimismo, China -al igual que EEUU, pero ya veremos quién es más criticado- consideran poco fiable un informe sobre la contaminación, al convertirse China este mismo año en el mayor contaminador del mundo. Ya de las 2o capitales más contaminadas, 16 están en China.

Y, para terminar, a los chinos ricos les molan los coches caros (la firma Rolls-Royce ha anunciado que este año han aumentado un 60% sus ventas) mientras las 3/4 partes de los mineros o trabajadores del cemento mueren anualmente de "pulmón blanco". Sólo el año pasado, el 76% de los trabajadores con enfermedades han muerto por esta causa. 621 eran de menores de 18 años.