I could speak to that.
I think the key here is that China signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1998, but China has not ratified the covenant and therefore is not required to report to the United Nations on its compliance with the specific provisions of the covenant. On the other hand, China has been subject to periodic review under the newer institution, the Human Rights Council. I've had the honour to assist in preparing some documentation in that regard.
Unfortunately, China's government's response, in my view, has not been satisfactory in taking as seriously as we believe it should its obligations to the United Nations charter with regard to human rights. The current situation in China where the President of China has explicitly denounced key principles that permeate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is very concerning.
China has ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which is another very important covenant coming out of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but it took a reservation on an entire article relating to the rights of trade unions.
So it's been challenging. When I was working in the Canadian embassy in China, where I was on my second posting—I was in the political section responsible for our engagement on human rights—I had expectations that China would legitimatize civil society and that we would see a gradual movement towards respect for universal values that are encapsulated in the United Nations charter. And, you know, representatives of China were involved in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Unfortunately, at present the Government of China has engaged in a crackdown on civil organizations and has arrested some people who were previously able to function in non-governmental pressure groups in environmental and other areas. So we're seeing movement backwards in that regard as well.
I'm expecting that many of the international agencies that have been active in China supporting the non-government sector will likely have to suspend their operations because the current government is undertaking a campaign against what it refers to as western influences and an explicit condemnation of what it refers to as universal values.