China defends its human rights record

BEIJING, Nov 18: China, which executes more people than any other country in the world and admits nearly all defendants in criminal cases are found guilty, launched an exhibition promoting its human rights record.

The ten-day exhibition will ''truthfully record China's efforts to promote and safeguard the people's right to life and right to develop and, more broadly, their political, economic, social and cultural rights,'' Xinhua news agency said yesterday, quoting organisers.

China, with a judicial system widely seen as designed only for conviction, has found nearly all six million defendants in criminal cases guilty in the past nine years, state media said last week.

Human rights groups have accused Beijing of lagging far behind international standards on criminal justice with widespread police torture, lack of due process in trials and the absence of presumption of innocence.

The United States routinely criticises China's rights record from everything from persecution of minorities to censorship of the Internet and of media critics.

China rejects that criticism, saying that the basic rights of its 1.3 billion people to food, clothing and housing take priority over individual civil liberties, and pointing to efforts to clean up its judiciary and use of the death penalty.

''We hope the exhibition will give people ... a clearer picture of how human rights have developed in the Chinese context and more confidence in China's commitment to human rights as it builds a socialist harmonious society,'' Cai Wu, director of the Information Office of the State Council, was quoted at saying at the opening ceremony.

REUTERS