November 10, 2008

By Laura MacInnis/Reuters

GENEVA (Reuters) – China defended itself against allegations of torture before a United Nations’ watchdog on Monday, saying it had “zero tolerance” for abuses in its police stations, jails and on the streets.

Beijing delegation chief Li Baodong rejected as “groundless and untrue” concerns raised by activist groups about the reported brutal physical and mental treatment of detainees, including monks and nuns arrested during demonstrations this year in Tibet.

On the second and final day of a review of China’s record on the issue by the U.N. Committee Against Torture, Li said his country had introduced laws to ban and punish such practices.

“We have zero tolerance for torture,” he told the 10-member independent committee, which monitors compliance with the U.N. Convention Against Torture, which China ratified in 1988.

On Friday, the U.N. panel had pressed the Chinese delegation to reveal more details about people held in custody and alleged cases of mistreatment of human rights lawyers, Falun Gong followers, drug addicts, and critics of the Beijing government.

Committee member Felice Gaer of the United States said she was worried about a “very serious information gap” in China, where criminal justice records tend to be classified as a state secrets.

“So much of the information that we are seeking is missing,” she told the review at the U.N.’s European centre in Geneva.

Tibetan rights groups were hoping the Committee review would turn world attention back to their remote Himalayan region, over which Beijing exercises strict control.

In its oral response to the Committee on Monday, China defended the actions of its police who sought to restore order when the Tibet demonstrations erupted.

More than 1,200 people swept up in the initial crackdown “have redeemed themselves and been released”, Li said. Some 69 have been imprisoned for arson, robbery, treason, troublemaking in the street, gathering to disrupt public order, offering information to people outside China, and other crimes, and eight are still being investigated, he said.

PROTESTERS KILLED

In written submissions, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) told the U.N. panel at least 120 unarmed Tibetans were shot and killed in the March protests.

The Central Tibetan Administration — the government in exile of the spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama — said Chinese authorities carried out oppressive “patriotic education” campaigns inside monasteries during the crackdown, when Tibet was closed to outsiders.

The International Campaign for Tibet also detailed “extreme brutality” against those arrested in March, saying some died in prison after being tortured, while others committed suicide in despair over being forced to denounce the Dalai Lama.

“Issues of torture and abuse in Tibet should be considered by the Committee to be systematic,” it said.

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