By Harry Keaney
Former Irish President Mary Robinson, now the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, aroused the ire of Chinese dissident groups this week as a result of her visit to China, which took place from Sept. 7-15.
Robinson’s visit was the first by a high commissioner for human rights to China. However, there was no meeting with Chinese dissidents despite a petition by some dissidents to meet her, Xiao Qiang, executive director of the New York-based group Human Rights in China, told the Echo Tuesday.
Xiao added that a dissident’s wife who went to Robinson’s hotel was dragged away and beaten,
"We certainly regret that she was not able to meet grassroots activists and people who campaign for human rights in China," Xiao said. "It’s an important item from her agenda that was missing."
Robinson also angered the Irish Times during her Chinese trip; its correspondent in Asia, Conor O’Clery, was prevented at the last minute from traveling with her to Tibet. O’Clery was formerly the Irish Times’ U.S. correspondent, based in Washington, D.C.
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On Monday, Robinson met with President Jiang Zemin and Deputy Premier Qian Qichen.
During the visit, she also met senior officials from the ministries of justice, labor, social security, and others to review the implementation of China’s commitments under different international human rights instruments. A broad objective, according to a United Nations statement, was to promote a culture of human rights and human rights education.
Robinson’s visit took place in the context of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the ongoing five-year review of the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action of the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights.
Robinson also visited Tibet and Shanghai.