China off worst human rights offender list

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WASHINGTON, March 11 2008 (UPI) -- China, despite its still-dismal human rights record, has been removed from the U.S. worst offender list, the State Department said.
The department Tuesday released its annual Report on Human Rights, which reviewed the human rights situation in 190 countries during 2007.
Top offenders are North Korea, Iran, Syria, Myanmar, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Eritrea and Sudan, reported Ya Libnan, a Lebanese media outlet.
"Countries in which power was concentrated in the hands of unaccountable rulers remained the world's most systematic human rights violators," the report said.
China moved out of the Top 10, despite information that 'its human rights record remains poor," because it is listed in a section dealing with authoritarian countries undergoing economic reform "where the democratic political reform has not kept pace, and that is a completely accurate assessment," said Johnathan Farrar, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor.

From other news reports: China just recently broke up a second day of peaceful protest marching by 500-600 monks in Tibet with tear gas and arrests. Today saw a third day of growing protests and in response the Chinese military has sealed off monasteries, reports say that these have been the largest protests in nearly two decades. These protests marked the 49th anniversary of an uprising of against Chinese rule.
Photo: Plane Tree Seed Pods. N.J. USA. 2004.