CHINA Hu denies forced abortions! ______________________  AFP (21.01.2011) / HRWF (24.01.2011) - www.hrwf.net - President Hu Jintao denied Thursday that China was forcing women to submit to abortions under its controversial one-child policy, a US lawmaker said after meeting him on his state visit. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the new Republican chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a staunch critic of China's leaders, said she handed Hu a detailed list of human rights concerns at a meeting. "Out of all of the issues I raised, the only one which received a response from Mr Hu was my statement urging the end of China's forced abortion policy," the Florida lawmaker said after the meeting. "I was astonished when he insisted that such a policy does not exist." China, under a 1980 policy designed to control its population, permits most couples to bear only one child. Blind activist Chen Guangcheng was jailed in 2006 after accusing officials in one area alone of forcing sterilizations or abortions on at least 7,000 women. Republican Representative Chris Smith, who strongly opposes abortion, has campaigned for years against China's one-child policy, which he said has "killed millions of innocent lives" and inflicted deep trauma on women. "The Chinese government's one-child-per-couple policy, with its attendant horrors of forced abortion campaigns and rampant sex-selective abortion, is, in scope and seriousness, the worst human rights abuse -- the worst gender crime -- in the world today," Smith told reporters ahead of Hu's visit. Ros-Lehtinen said she also pressed China to free dissidents including Liu Xiaobo and Gao Zhisheng, to respect the rights of the Tibetan and Uighur minorities and to "end the persecution" of underground Christians and members of the Falungong spiritual movement. Ros-Lehtinen said China was showing it was not "a responsible actor" and called for a robust US policy toward the Asian giant. "The US and China do not share values and principles, as some have claimed in recent days," she said. Hu is paying a state visit at the invitation of President Barack Obama, whose Democratic Party was trounced by the Republicans in November elections. |
CHINA OPEN LETTER Hu - Don't Deny Forced Abortion in China!  An Open Letter from Reggie Littlejohn, President, Women's Rights Without Frontiers Dear President Hu Jintao, Women's Rights Without Frontiers (21.01.2011) / HRWF (24.01.2011) - www.hrwf.net - When questioned by Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the new chair of our House Foreign Affairs Committee, you denied that China forces women to have abortions under its One Child Policy. What you told Rep. Ros-Lehtinen is a falsehood, astonishing in its audacity. By attempting to deceive our Congressional Representative, you are attempting to deceive the US government and the American people. Your claim is easy to disprove. In October 2010, an appalling video appeared of a woman who had been beaten and forced to abort at eight months. The video shows the jail cell in which this pregnant woman and others like her are forced to receive injections through their wombs and into the skulls of their unborn babies, to kill them. This is happening to thousands of women all over China. You can watch this video here. http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/blog/?p=25 Forced abortion is not the only atrocity committed in the name of the One Child Policy. Here are some other serious human rights violations that leaked out of China in 2010: § Forced Sterilization. Between April 7 to 27 of 2010, the Population and Family Planning Bureau detained 1,300 people in a campaign to sterilize nearly 10,000 people in the city of Puning, Guangdong Province. In order to meet sterilization quotas, the Puning population control authorities detained parents-as well as other family members, such as elderly grandparents-for refusing the sterilization procedures. § Infanticide. In May 2010, crematorium workers in Guangdong Province found an infant crying in a "medical waste" receptacle on its way to being cremated, according to Xinhua, China's official news agency. The crematorium workers immediately sent the infant back to the hospital. Later that day, the hospital sent the infant back to the crematorium, dead. The hospital offered no explanation of the cause of death. To see a web-based discussion among Chinese doctors about how best to kill infants who are being born alive during induced labor forced abortions, read "Best Practices - Infanticide." This document was found on the official Chinese website for obstetricians and gynecologists. § Psychiatric Torture. In November 2010, Radio Free Asia reported that Gu Xianghong languishes in an "Ankang," a special Chinese psychiatric hospital run by police. In a video quoted by RFA, Gu says, "They put electrodes on my temples and they were burned black. They handcuffed me and chained my feet . . . My [entire family] and home have been ruined by the village government." They also subjected her to injections against her will. According to the report, Gu has been jailed nine times in the Ankang since 1992. Why? Because she is suing the local government over "family planning issues." President Hu, if forced abortion, forced sterilization, infanticide and psychiatric torture are not policies of the Chinese Communist Party to enforce the One Child Policy, then why are you not prosecuting those cadres who are perpetrating these crimes against humanity? Why, instead, are you persecuting those who are exposing these crimes? Take, for example, blind activist Chen Guangcheng, who exposed the 130,000 mass forced abortions and forced sterilizations in Linyi County, Shandong Province, in 2005. For this he served a four-year prison sentence, during which time he was severely beaten and denied medical attention. On April 30, 2006, Time Magazine named him in its list of "2006's Top 100 People Who Shape Our World," in the category of "Heroes and Pioneers." Now, he remains languishing under house arrest. Free Chen Guangcheng! The coercive enforcement of your One Child Policy causes more violence against women and girls than any other official policy on earth and any other official policy in the history of the world. And yet, on September 26, 2010, the China Daily News reported an official statement by the head of your National Population and Family Planning Commission that the One Child Policy will remain in force for "decades." President Hu, your attempted cover-up will not work. We are committed to exposing the truth about your One Child Policy: it is China's war on women and girls. Our online petition has now gathered more than 5000 signatures from 88 countries, so I speak for people from all over the world when I say, stop forced abortion in China! Sincerely, Reggie Littlejohn, President Women's Rights Without Frontiers Online Petition: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reggie Littlejohn is President of Women's Rights Without Frontiers, a non-partisan, international coalition to oppose forced abortion and sexual slavery in China. As an expert on China's One Child Policy for Human Rights Without Frontiers and China Aid, she has delivered an address at the European Parliament in Brussels, briefed the White House and testified before Congress (the United States Congressional Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission). She has spoken at the Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, George Washington University, and The Heritage Foundation. A graduate of Yale Law School, Ms. Littlejohn has represented Chinese refugees in their political asylum cases in the United States. Contact Ms. Littlejohn at 310.592.5722; reggielittlejohn@gmail.com |
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