Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-04-07-Speech-4-361-000"
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"en.20110407.22.4-361-000"2
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"Mr President, the detention of the distinguished Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei, at Beijing Airport on 3 April as he was attempting to travel to Hong Kong, has rightly drawn international concern. The delegation of the European Union to China and a public statement immediately condemned the increasing use of arbitrary detention against human rights defenders, lawyers and activists in China, and underline the EU’s concerns regarding Ai Weiwei.
At the moment, we have no information concerning Mr Ai’s whereabouts, and I wish to emphasise today that the EU’s view on arbitrary detention and disappearance is that it constitutes a grave violation of human rights and is unacceptable in all circumstances. We call for the immediate release of Ai Weiwei.
Moreover, as the resolution before this House makes clear, the detention of Ai Weiwei is only one among many recent incidents of arbitrary detention and disappearance in China. Several prominent Chinese lawyers who frequently act for defendants in human rights cases are reported to have been arrested by police officials since February and have not been seen since.
Concerns about their treatment are only intensified by the ongoing disappearance of the lawyer Gao Zhisheng who, with the exception of a brief reappearance in April 2010, has now been missing for over two years. The High Representative is worried about reports based on interviews with Mr Gao in April 2010 that during his initial period of disappearance, he was detained incommunicado in a variety of unauthorised places of detention and subjected to improper treatment.
There are, moreover, reports that in recent weeks, a significant number of bloggers and political activists have either been charged with criminal offences, such as subverting state power, or have been detained without charge.
I can assure this House that the Vice-President/High Representative, Catherine Ashton, is following developments very closely and will raise these issues with the Chinese authorities at the earliest opportunity, and that the EU will also make known its concern to the Chinese authorities at the next round of the EU-China human rights dialogue, for which we have proposed dates in May. Allow me to support the statement by Mrs Meissner that what is really needed is one voice, a unified message, which comes not only from the EU institutions, but from all EU Member States."@en1
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