The Government, in co-operation with our EU partners and other concerned states, continually monitors the human rights situation in many countries throughout the world. A steady flow of information is available from many sources including local embassies, United Nations rapporteurs and working groups, the Commission on Human Rights and non-governmental organisations.
As the Deputy will be aware, it takes consistent and painstaking effort to bring about improvements in human rights situations. I have provided detailed information to the House in my replies to other questions on specific cases of human rights violations. There are signs of progress in some areas, and I have to say that we would like to see more.
A particular mechanism which the European Union is pursuing is human rights dialogue with a number of countries. The dialogue between the EU and China has been continuing for some time and the most recent meeting took place on 19 October 1999. The Chinese authorities have taken some positive steps over the past two years which have given rise to hopes of a tangible improvement in the human rights situation there. These have included China's increased co-operation with UN human rights mechanisms – for example the signing of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the visits by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Through the human rights dialogue, China now regularly discusses issues of serious human rights concern, including individual cases, the death penalty, conditions of detention and Tibet.