UN Wire (5th May) has an article based upon the Amnesty report at
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/628449 . The article is from The
Toronto Star and includes comments from readers which perhaps
shouldn't be missed !
The report itself is on Amnesty's website at
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_19348.pdf
James
At 11:34 06/05/2009, you wrote:
>The story below appears on the BBC's news website this morning. It
>shows another human rights dimension to disaster. China quake
>parents 'harrassed' By Michael Bristow BBC News, Beijing Parents
>want to re-visit the schools where their children died Parents who
>lost their children in China's earthquake fear they will not be
>allowed to properly commemorate the disaster's first anniversary.
>Many parents want to return to the site of the schools in Sichuan
>that killed their children when they collapsed. But the authorities
>have previously stopped them going to the schools on sensitive
>occasions, and are said to be monitoring the parents ahead of 12
>May. China has not said how many children were among the 90,000 dead
>and missing. The government has admitted that nearly 14,000 schools
>- some of them poorly or hastily built - were damaged in the
>magnitude-8 earthquake. Schools sealed off One mother, Hu Hongfang,
>wants to return to Juyuan Middle School to mark the first
>anniversary of the death of her 15-year-old son Guo Jun. But she is
>not hopeful that she will be allowed to get to the collapsed school
>site, in the city of Dujiangyan in northern Sichuan Province. "On
>every occasion parents have wanted to pay their respects to their
>children, the whole school and nearby area have been sealed off,"
>she said. Other parents told the BBC a similar story. Zhou Siqiang,
>whose daughter died at the Juyuan school, said parents have been
>prevented from visiting the site on a number of occasions. There is
>still no official report about why so many schoolchildren died He
>said they were stopped from going to the site on last month's Tomb
>Sweeping Day, when Chinese people traditionally visit family graves.
>But he was undeterred. "I think I will join others and go to the
>school on the first anniversary of the earthquake," he said. Across
>Dujiangyan, parents at another collapsed school detailed some of the
>methods used by the authorities to prevent them from staging public
>displays of grief. These includes stopping them from leaving their
>homes and taking them away from the city during sensitive times.
>Seeking answers These parents, whose children died at Xinjian
>Primary School, say they fear the same will happen on the
>earthquake's first anniversary. The local government and police did
>not want to immediately comment on the parents' claims. But the man
>who runs a cemetery where many of the Xinjian schoolchildren are
>buried confirmed that there is a special team monitoring the
>parents. Chen Hua, who works at Baoshantao Cemetery, told the BBC
>that the special "work team" was attached to the local police
>station. Amnesty International this week released a report saying
>the authorities continued to intimidate and detain parents who had
>lost children in the earthquake. It is particularly targeting
>parents who are still seeking answers about why so many schools
>collapsed during the earthquake, the rights group said. "The
>government of China must cease harassing earthquake survivors who
>are seeking answers and trying to pick up the pieces of their
>shattered lives," said Amnesty International's Roseann Rife. Parents
>who spoke to the BBC do not expect that to happen.
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