§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, in the United Kingdom-China human rights dialogues, they have used the Report of the Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance of 22 December 1994 as a benchmark; and, if so, what progress they consider has been made towards compliance with the special rapporteur's recommendations. [HL1131]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Amos)The objectives for our UK/China human rights dialogue are detailed in the FCO Annual Human Rights Report. They cover issues relating to the rule of law, engagement with UN mechanisms, political and religious rights, economic and social rights and the situation in Tibet.
We are disappointed by China's progress to date on the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur on Religious Freedom in 1994. We continue to raise our concerns about religious freedom in China. We did so most recently at the UK/China human rights dialogue in November 2002.
We understand that at the US/China human rights dialogue in December 2002 China agreed to invite the Special Rapporteur on Religious Freedom.