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INFO
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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
CONDEMNS US, CHINA IN REPORT
The United States is shirking its duty to provide the world with moral
leadership and China is letting its business interests trump human rights
concerns in Myanmar and Sudan, a human rights group said Wednesday.
Amnesty International's annual report on the state of the world's human
rights accused the U.S. of failing to provide a moral compass for its
international peers, a long-standing complaint the London-based group has
against the North American superpower.
This year it also criticized the U.S. for supporting Pakistani President
Pervez Musharraf last November when he imposed a state of emergency, clamped
down on the media and sacked judges.
"As the world's most powerful state, the USA sets the standard for
government behavior globally," the report said. It charged that the U.S.
"had distinguished itself in recent years through its defiance of
international law."
As in the past, the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay came in for
criticism. Irene Khan, Amnesty's secretary-general, appealed for the
American president elected in November to announce the jail's closure on
Dec. 10, 2008, the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights.
The State Department had no immediate comment on the report, but said the
U.S. was justified in detaining enemy combatants at Guantanamo to prevent
them from returning to the battlefield. The State Department has previously
said Amnesty uses the U.S. as "a convenient ideological punching bag."
Emerging power China came in for a few punches, too. The report said China
had continued shipping weapons to Sudan in defiance of a U.N. arms embargo
and traded with abusive governments like Myanmar and Zimbabwe. It said that
China's media censorship remains in place and that the government continues
to persecute rights activists.
The report also accused China of expanding its "re-education through labor"
program, which allows the government to arrest people and sentence them to a
manual labor without trial.
But Amnesty said it detected a shift in China's position: In 2007, China
persuaded the Sudanese government to allow U.N. peacekeepers into the Darfur
region and pressured Myanmar to accept the visit of a U.N. special envoy.
Khan told The Associated Press that it was much easier to grapple with human
rights problems when the West and China worked together.
"China has the leverage to work with certain governments," she said ahead of
the report's release. But she said China needed to use that leverage
responsibly.
"China is clearly a global power. With that comes global responsibility for
human rights. It needs to recognize that economic growth is not enough,"
Khan said.
The Chinese Embassy in London referred a query about the report to Beijing
officials. A woman who answered the phone at the Foreign Ministry in Beijing
said the ministry would look into the report. She refused to comment further
or to give her name or position.
China has rejected previous such reports. It says its human rights record
has improved in recent years.
Amnesty International said people are still tortured or ill-treated in at
least 81 countries, face unfair trials in at least 54 and are denied free
speech in at least 77.
But the report also highlighted an increase in mass demonstrations around
the world, citing that as a positive sign of a growing willingness by people
to fight for their rights.
"Black-suited lawyers in Pakistan, saffron-robed monks in Myanmar, 43.7
million individuals standing up on Oct. 17, 2007, to demand action against
poverty, all were vibrant reminders last year of a global citizenry
determined to stand up for human rights and hold their leaders to account,"
it said.
TRPCESKI TO PERFORM
IN STRASBOURG,
TOUR IN NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA
Macedonian piano virtuoso Simon Trpceski will perform in Strasbourg as
soloist of the Strasbourg Philharmonic on Thursday and Friday, playing the
Second concert for piano by Saint - Saens.
Cultural association KulturOp said that Trpceski will perform with the
Bretagne Orchestra, playing piano concert by Grieg on June 3,4 and 5.
First tour of our famous pianist in New Zealand is scheduled towards the end
of June, whereas that part of the season will be concluded with the repeated
concert for the Australian audience, in Melbourne and Sydney, namely at the
Sydney Opera House.
Prestigious American magazine "The Absolute Sound" includes latest CD by
Trpceski with pieces by Debussy, released by "EMI Classics", among the best
editions nominated for "The Golden Ear Award".
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NEWS
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FRENCH COMPANY "MONTUPET" TO BUILD
FACTORY IN BUNARDZIK
French company "Montupet" will build a factory for car parts in free
economic zone Bunardzik. Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and company's
executive director Mark Majus signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in the
"Montupet" head offices in Laigneville near Paris, thus opening the path for
the investment's realization.
This is the first French greenfield investment in Macedonia, worth Euro 60
million in the first stage, increasing to about Euro 100 million in six
years.
The factory will produce vehicle aluminum engine heads for brands "Ford",
Renault", "Citroen", "Peugeot", "Audi", and "General Motors".
According to initial projections, 500 people will be employed, with expected
revenues of Euro 200 million in five years.
"Montupet" was established in 1894, and has been enlisted at the Paris Stock
Exchange since 1966. It has factories in France, Spain, Canada, Ireland, and
Mexico. |
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