China 'fails on human rights plan'

The continued use of torture, illegal detention, censorship and other offences means China has failed to deliver on its first human rights action plan, a human rights group said today.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said, after evaluating China’s official two-year plan which ended last month, that China deserves praise for openly publishing a human rights plan but said its many failures left it “largely a series of unfulfilled promises”.

China’s human rights were fully in the spotlight last year when imprisoned author and critic Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Liu’s wife, Liu Xia, has been under house arrest and out of contact since shortly after the award was announced in October.