A U. N. representative on human rights said that he was followed by security officers in disguise during an official trip to China and that some activists h
BEIJING – A U. N. representative on human rights said that he was followed by security officers in disguise during an official trip to China and that some activists he met with may have suffered intimidation and retaliation.
Philip Alston, the U. N. special rapporteur for extreme poverty and human rights, said the Chinese government’s conduct was at odds with the need for U. N. experts to have the freedom to assess situations and preserve the confidentiality of sources.
The difficulties are contained in a final report on his mission to China in August, which was emailed to The Associated Press on Tuesday. It is to be delivered to the U. N. Human Rights Council in June.
They include warnings by the Chinese government not to make direct contact with civil society organizations to arrange meetings, requests for full details of any private meetings and security officers posing as private citizens regularly following Alston.
The space for civil society has been curtailed dramatically under President Xi Jinping. He has presided over detentions of lawyers and rights activists, bloggers and others reporting on rights abuses and critiquing government policies, and tightening controls over foreign non-government organizations.
Alston’s report said that the government warned both him and individuals it considered “sensitive” not to meet with each other, and one meeting was prevented when a person was taken into custody for a couple of hours.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Wednesday that he couldn’ t comment on the report as he hadn’ t seen it.
