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Opinion
PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, JULY 29, 2021
China, western world and human rights revolving doors
By Jerome-Mario Utomi
T
he reported remark by Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin at the just concluded 47th session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council, calling on Western countries to reflect deeply on their own human rights abuse, has again brought to our consciousness the troubling realty that despite the widening strides by pro-democracy advocates to advertise the virtues and attributes of democracy over other forms of government, the balance of power within the last decades appears to be shifting. The Envoy said in parts; I want to stress that it is these Western countries that are using human rights as an excuse to exert pressure and interfere in other countries’ internal affairs based on political motivation, false information, lies and rumors. It is these Western countries that proclaim themselves to be ‘judges’, pointing fingers at and humiliating the human rights situation in developing countries, which violates the purposes and principles of the UN Charter,” That was not the only discomforting word from Wang Wenbin. Again, listen to him; ‘They claimed welcoming criticism from outside. However, when China and other developing countries express reasonable concerns about their human rights problems, they appear to be extremely uncomfortable or even unacceptable, adding that their claim that China engaged in “microphone diplomacy” and “interference in internal affairs” were typical double standard behavior and fully reflected their deep-rooted arrogance, prejudice and hypocrisy. He finally urged the West to take effective measures to solve their serious human rights problems at home. Clear enough! The above position becomes easy to admit when one
remembers that China was recently described by a report as a nation that just experienced a period of economic growth, the likes of which the world had never before seen. There also exists growing insistence that China’s model of development is superior to that of the west. China’s model, the piece submitted, blazes a new trial for other developing countries to achieve modernization and offers a new option for other countries and nations who want to speed up their development while preserving their independence, as western talk about democracy, is simply a pretext for robbing poorer countries of their sovereignty and economic potentials. However, beyond this praise, there exist in the opinion of this piece, ingrained paradoxes that is not only newsy but characterizes as a revolving door this latest outburst by China Separate from the realism that China was in the past reputed for receiving such accusations of human right abuses from the Western countries, many commentators/ reports are uniformly laced with similar judgments. One of such report stated; China, ‘interestingly’, is ruled, increasingly dictatorially by an unelected communist party that puts people in prison for their convictions and limits all forms of free expressions and associations. Apart from being ruled, ‘increasingly dictatorially, it essentially noted that Europe’s biggest powers- Germany, France and the United Kingdom-along with Poland, Spain and the Scandinavian countries, maintain/ believe that China is undermining human rights, democratic ethos, rules and standards. The country’s fundamental obstaclesare its government’s reluctance to appreciate development plans and reform programs from a rights-based perspective. Directly and indirectly, it adversely
affects the infusion of human rights principles of participation, accountability, transparency and nondiscrimination towards the attainment of equity and justice in development initiatives. As clarified by the United Nations Independent Expert on the Right to Development, for a programme to be tagged development, it must require a particular process that allows the realization of economic, social and cultural rights, as well as civil and political rights, and all fundamental freedoms, by expanding the capabilities and choices of the individual. In the same style, while writing on the well considered topic; The Old World and The Middle KingdomEurope Wakes Up to China’s rise, Julianne Smith and Torrey Taussig noted that Chinese president xi Jinping’s consolidation of power has shaken Germany’s confidence in China’s future political stability. They explained that in the name of national security, the Chinese government detained over one million Muslim Uighurs in the western province of Xinjiang in “reeducation camp.” To many in Germany and across Europe, these developments raise troubling questions over what a Chinese-led world would look like. Just before you hastily conclude, wait till cast a glance at the next paragraph that says something new and different. German industry, the report added, is growing concern about Chinese technological progress. German business leaders who have long supported deeper economic ties with China are now apprehensive about China’s state-led quest for technological supremacy at the expense of German companies. The Federation of German Industries released a widely cited report cautioning companies to reduce their dependence on the Chinese market.
Then there is the long-standing issue of Chinese hackers stealing foreign industrial and technological secrets. The heightened frequency of Chinese hacking led the German government’s cyber security agency to warn German companies about the growing risk of Chinese cyberespionage. That came on top of a 2017 case in which German intelligence agencies accused China of creating fake LinkedIn accounts to connect with more than 10,000 German citizens, including lawmakers and government officials, in order to gain information, recruit sources, and infiltrate the Bundestag and government. Germany, it says, is not alone in its awakening. French president Emmanuel Macron, recently declared an end to ‘‘European naivete’’ on China. Macron also invited Merkel and jean-Claude junker, the president of the European commission, to join his meetings with Xi in order to present a united front. The message was clear: Europe will resist China’s attempts to divide it. Many European countries are experiencing what one senior EU official described as “China fatigue,” the report noted. These grievances are having a mounting effect on German policy toward China. Merkel, now refers to China as a “systemic competitor,” Similarly, Several European countries have tightened up their screening of Chinese investments. In 2018, the German government, citing national security, blocked a Chinese investor from buying Leifeld Metal, a leading German producer of metals for the automobile, space, and nuclear industries. It was the first time that the German government had voted a Chinese takeover. The move was followed by a new law giving the government power to block a non-european investor from buying a ten percent or higher stake
(down from 25 percent) in a German business. The law includes media companies, a sign that Germany is worried about Chinese information influence. Some European countries have grown disenchanted with china’s behaviour; they have started to push for a more coherent EU wide strategy. A recent EU white paper on china labeled Beijing a “systemic rival promoting alternative models of governance” and called on the EU to pursue a more reciprocal relationship with china and to strengthen its own industrial base.It concluded. As the debate rages, two things stand out. Western countries must provide answers to questions raised by the Chinese government. They are in this order; “Why do they(Western Countries) turn a blind eye to issues in Western countries such as the systematic discrimination against ethnic minorities including those from Asian and African descent, infringement on the rights of indigenous people, large-scale human rights violations in immigration detention centers, killing civilians in overseas military operations, military intervention resulting in a large number of civilian casualties and displacement and unilateral coercion measures that seriously damage human rights Why do they never criticize their partners for this on the UN Human Rights Council? Why do they turn a deaf ear to the criticism of the international community? For its part, China must recognize that ‘authoritarianism may do well in the short term, but experience clearly shows that only democracy produces good government over a long haul’. Utomi is the Programme Coordinator (Media and Policy), Social and Economic Justice Advocacy (SEJA), Lagos. He could be reached via;jeromeutomi@yahoo.com
Last year, the US played the stigmatization game when naming the coronavirus, which was a blatant violation of WHO rules, and even withdrew from the organization. This year, it called a few of its allies to deny the ChinaWHO joint research on the global tracing of COVID-19 origins, and brazenly made intelligence organizations to lead the origin tracing work. Making hypes of the “lab leak theory,” Washington has a clear goal - to shift the blame for its inability in pandemic control and oppress China. What’s really in the mind of those American politicians yelling “America is back” is still “America first.” Egoism is all they worship. More and more evidence shows that there was something doubtful about the early spread of COVID-19 in the US. The international society is totally justified to request an origin tracing investigation into the US, but Washington has always turned a deaf ear to the concerns of the rest of the world. As of Monday, July 26, over 13 million Chinese people have signed an open letter demanding that the WHO investigate Fort Detrick. Many foreigners also launched online petitions on social media, saying the whole world wants to know the truth about the origins of the novel
coronavirus. Stephen Kinzer, senior fellow with the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, said that Fort Detrick, which had cooperated with Japanese war criminals, is still a research center of the US for biological warfare. An investigation into the lab would be “interesting,” he added. However, a US media organization revealed an internal warning from the US government that persuaded government officials “not to pursue an investigation into the origin of COVID-19” because it would “‘open a can of worms’ if it continued.” While putting aside the questions raised by the international community, the US is bragging about its support for multilateral approaches. For Washington, the so-called multilateralism is only used to serve its own interests. Such hypocrisy would only hurt the genuine multilateralism that aims at international cooperation. The essence of the American “multilateralism” is indeed forming cliques and pursuing bloc politics, which forces US hegemony on others. The second phase of the origin tracing study proposed by the WHO has been opposed by multiple
countries because it turns over the conclusion reached in the first stage of the work that the virus could have been originated in multiple countries and regions, and because it takes the so-called lab leak in a Chinese facility as a focus of the study. Is such a work plan ignoring common sense and science, and seeing China as the only respondent a response to the “lab leak theory” speculated by the US? Is it launched to help the US oppress China politically? A British scholar said Washington is now wielding coalition politics to scapegoat the WHO, and is coercing the organization in multiple situations. Obviously, the US’ returning to the world’s largest international organization in public health, was not for enhancing global antipandemic plan, but for spreading political virus to poison China. For the US, politics comes before science. There’s nothing it wouldn’t do to tarnish China. American magazine Wired said in an article that what some Americans want is not an answer, and they are just using origin tracing, a long and complicated scientific process, to deepen people’s doubts, slander China, and distract from political problems at home.
However, the US is obviously having a misjudgment believing forming cliques would help it sidetrack the world. The US cannot represent the international society, and is not qualified to point fingers at others. Now more and more countries recognize the first-phase conclusions of the origin tracing and oppose politicizing the matter, which fully indicates that origin sourcing must adhere to genuine multilateralism, and must be led by WHO member countries based on extensive consultations. Origin-tracing needs cooperation rather than discrediting, truth rather than lies, and respecting science rather than political manipulation. Over the past year, the US political manipulation over origin tracing has brought enough troubles for US citizens. At present, the pandemic is deteriorating in the country, and even American media said there was not enough time left for the US government. If Washington continues unilateral practices in the name of multilateralism, it will be further isolated and bring more pain to the Americans. (Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy and international affairs.)
“America first” the largest strike against multilateralism
By Zhong Daily
T
Sheng,
People’s
he seven-day moving average of new COVID-19 cases in the US as of July 23 was 40,246, an increase of 46.7 percent from the week before, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the US. However, the resurging numbers means nothing to some American politicians. Instead of working on pandemic control at home, they are going on with their same old tricks, stigmatizing other countries, labeling the virus, and politicizing the origin tracing work. To beautify its practice of discrediting other countries and undermining global anti-pandemic efforts, Washington has frequently employed the “multilateral organizations” and “partner countries” rhetoric, intending to speak for the international society. What the White House has done totally goes against the consensus of the international society and is a kind of pseudo-multilateralism from head to foot. The arbitrary political manipulation of the US has brought severe damage to the global cooperation on the fight against COVID-19, and caused huge troubles for the WHO.
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PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, JULY 29, 2021
Comment
Aftermath of the End SARS movement- focus on legal reform
By Julia Myron
I
t is imperative that we reconstruct our legal and judicial systems. We could follow the steps of countries like Cameroon that are rebuilding their penal code to create a more equitable society. Nigeria needs to start its development from the criminal justice systems as this is the backbone and foundation of any successful democratic institution. There needs to be an aggressive review that will implement human rights principles as a standard practice in our policing and detention programs. Nigeria is at a pivotal point in our history where democratic ideals and human rights principles are at an all time low. Indeed, Nigeria has been ranked 12th by the fragile state index list curated by the Fund for Peace . Nigeria is currently experiencing a high level of insecurity such as terrorism in the North, banditry and kidnapping, conflict between the herders and farmers in the north and separationist groups. It is true that these conflicts have been caused by an increase in poverty, unemployment, and a vacuum in leadership. However, we must
also acknowledge the lack of legal structures that has escalated the conflict in Nigeria. It is easy to complain about the president and political officers in Nigeria but the truth is that Nigeria has been a failing country even before President Buhari assumed office. This is not in any way an attempt to absolve him from blame, however, this article is an invitation to look deeper at the structural and systematic failures in our institutions that give bad leaders the ammunition to do the worst kinds of damage before their tenure is over. T h e b i g g e s t examples of such structural failure is the criminal justice and judicial systems in Nigeria. The end sars protest of 2020 was a small manifestation of the problem in the criminal justice system. Police
brutality, arbitrary detention, lack of adequate legal representation, torture and degrading punishments, poor prison facilities,corrupt judges, amongst others are some of the problems in the justice system. It is common knowledge that there cannot be peace without justice and strong institutions. Indeed a strong criminal and judicial system are
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is evident that the only people who have access to justice in Nigeria are the mega rich. Of course, there are consequences to the inequalities in access to justice and these consequences are exhibited in facets of the society. For example, jungle justice is still widely practiced in Nigeria: this is a practice which dictates that a petty thief can be stoned, beaten or burned to death. It is clear that citizens do not trust the legal system to administer justice. This mistrust allows for anarchy and chaos in a society. Further, the conflict between the herders and farmers in the North is also proof of the failures of our legal system. Both parties should have the forum to cite their grievances in a court of law and have their disputes settled by judges; however, this has not been the case. Property law in Nigeria is highly underdeveloped. This is the reason why Nigeria is not the first choice for foreign investors e.g Twitter and other tech companies. It is imperative that we
Of course, there are consequences to the inequalities in access to justice and these consequences are exhibited in facets of the society. For example, jungle justice is still widely practiced in Nigeria: the benchmarks of any successful democracy. Therefore, one has to wonder what kind of democracy Nigeria is when the criminal justice system is virtually non-existent. It
reconstruct our legal and judicial systems. We could follow the steps of countries like Cameroon that are rebuilding their penal code to create a more equitable society. Nigeria needs to start its development from the criminal justice systems as this is the backbone and foundation of any successful democratic institution. There needs to be an aggressive review that will implement human rights principles as a standard practice in our policing and detention programs. There needs to be a robust anti- corruption program to be implemented for criminal justice workers including judges, lawyers and police officers. This will also include a reporting system for gross misconduct and a system of transparency for all civil officers. This reform program will take time and effort but the only way to save Nigeria from becoming a failed state is to revive its justice system. Julia Myron is an International lawyer, Transitional justice practitioner. She has experience working in human rights advocacy across three continents.
A need for female youth rebirth in Nigeria By Wahab Rianat
L
ife of teenage and early youth stage is said to be fun. You get to hangout out with friends, date different men for money, for position and for sex. You tend to practice what others do by flirting with men at bars, clubs, hotels and even in beaches. You dress indecently and have tons of male friends that took you as a friend in public but give you hot romance in secret. You get introduced to different alcohols and gins, you learn to smoke, to club , to take hard drugs. You no longer respect the elders and even your parents. Many called it an interesting life but ladies, let’s ask ourselves, Is that how to live life? It’s unfortunate to say that these type of ladies end up regretting and they always tried to cover up the stigma or the scars these past had caused them. Some would relocate to other countries, while some without options will end up committing suicide or go into depression to cover up the shame. So ladies who are we trying to impress? Friends who never wanted the best for us, friends who wanted their friends lives to be ruined just like theirs or men who only wanted to enjoy temporary moments with us and trust me, men like that might give comments like “baby you are hot”, “you are sexy”, and seem to appreciate ladies with indecent dressings, ladies who smokes, drinks and visit clubs but trust me they know deep down in their hearts that these ladies do not have the qualities of a good housewife and they wouldn’t want such ladies to be their future wives and no mother in her right senses
would allow his son marry a lady with tattoo drawn on her body, nose, lips, stomach and every part of the body pierced with earrings, a dress that shows her almost her full cleavage, or a lady who visits night clubs frequently. Some parents contribute to the moral laxity of their female children. A scenario whereby a lady brings home weird friends with crazy outfits and introduced them to her mum and then she smiled and kept silent, such lady automatically would have the impression that her mum was satisfied with her friends and before the mother would realized the damage she had caused, the lady would have committed several abortions, sleep with men in hotels for money and even get addicted to drugs. As a lady, you can be exceptional if you want to, and if you ask me how, I will tell you how. The way a lady fancy a smart ,rich and handsome guy, is the same way a man also admire an intelligent, s m a r t , industrious and good-looking ladies. You don’t have to be a beautiful lady without brain because the two B’s work together. So you have to be a lady with beauty and brain. The formula B2 is what every lady should posses. So plus your beauty, you have
to be a critical thinker, you must have analytical skills, technology friendly, and what have you. Getting a good grade from school, having a good job and been independent is the greatest achievement a woman could ever have, that way men will give you respect and trust me, a man and not just any man but a responsible man will approach you. Be the kind of a lady a man will look at and say “wow! that lady has the quality of a good wife”. A man who tells you are “ugly” just because you didn’t expose your boobs is only trying to degrade your self esteem. A lady should always appreciate herself, look into in the mirror and tell yourself “you are beautiful” and
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parts doesn’t make you beautiful, if you are ugly then you are damn ugly even if you expose the whole boobs or go nude. A story to consider, a lady known as Zainab was raped by five men during her first year in the university. The story started when she had friends who changed her mindset about her lifestyle. She was no longer the lovely Fatimah that she was used to be, she wanted to feel among and enjoy her new friend’s company, she drinks alcohol, hang outs in clubs and so on. Trouble started when she decided to date men for money. Unknown to her, she was dating two cultists who were best friends and they never knew they were dating the same girl, as time will have it, they caught her tricks and abducted her. These men invited their friends to join in the feast as they raped her brutally. They rejected her in three hospitals and after she survived the accident,she had to relocate to another hostel because she couldn’t withstand the shame. Stories worst than this had happened and will still occur if measures to curb moral laxity is not adopted. We all have duties to perform starting from the parents; monitor your children on the movies they
It’s unfortunate to say that these type of ladies end up regretting and they always tried to cover up the stigma or the scars these past had caused them. Some would relocate to other countries, while some without options will end up committing suicide or go into depression to cover up the shame. you don’t have to wait for a man to compliment you before you do. And who says you can’t slay without exposing sensitive part of your body, there are lot of women who dressed in clothes that are in vogue and yet they don’t expose their body. Revealing your body
watch, where they visit, know the kinds of friends they keep, study their lifestyles, , talk to them about sex related topics, teach them how to behave like a responsible woman to be. Individual development; birds of a feather flocks together they say, choose positive people as your friends, create a circle of friends who derive joy in seeking knowledge, friends with great ambitions, with great future plans. Educational systems should improve more on programs that would teach and orientate youth on the importance of good morals, and the disadvantages of adopting a bad lifestyle. Government should create more educative programs, empowerment and scholarship programs to encourage the youth on studying well and as well as developing a good career in order to avoid them depending on men for money or to avoid giving the men chance to exploit them and use them to their advantage. I suggest the movies, music industries and the internet sites which promote pornographic contents should be banned by the Government. Movie and music industries can no longer produce entertainment without the inclusion of a nude lady, or of people who drink alcohols and drugs, internet had been flooded with nude pictures either uploaded by the victims themselves or someone else. A situation whereby teenagers upload their nude pictures online to seduce men or to just for the fun of it and all these cause 80% spread and growth of moral laxity in Nigeria. Wahab Rianat is a Public Affairs Analyst.