Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 6, 1995 TAG: 9509060088
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: BEIJING LENGTH: Medium
Speaking Tuesday afternoon before a plenary session of 1,500 delegates and observers at the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women, which opened here Monday, the first lady made a stirring call for an end to violations of women's rights.
``If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, it is that human rights are women's rights, and women's rights are human rights once and for all,'' she said to applause.
Despite concerns among many groups that Clinton would shy away from criticizing China at a delicate time for strained Sino-U.S. relations, the first lady strongly denounced human rights violations in China as well as elsewhere around the world.
Although she did not mention China by name, Clinton clearly was taking aim at the Beijing regime when she said: ``It is a violation of human rights when women are denied the right to plan their own families, and that includes being forced to have abortions or being sterilized against their will.''
Clinton's criticism of Chinese policies fell on receptive ears. About 20,000 women have been struggling for days with Chinese police harassment, searches and restrictions on meetings and demonstrations at the Nongovernmental Organizations Forum on Women taking place about an hour's drive from Beijing in the town of Huairou. These actions followed weeks of uncertainty and confusion over the granting of visas to those wishing to attend the meeting; some groups critical of Chinese policy have been barred from coming.
``It is indefensible that many women in nongovernmental organizations who wished to participate in this conference have not been able to attend or have been prohibited from fully taking part,'' Clinton said, to strong applause.
Without mentioning the name of any country, Clinton also condemned the Indian practice of burning brides when their marriage dowries are deemed too small; the African custom of performing genital mutilation on women; domestic violence in the United States and elsewhere; and conflicts in which ``women are raped in their own communities and when thousands of women are subjected to rape as a tactic or prize of war.''
The official New China News Agency carried brief excerpts from speeches by N.K.A. Rawlings, the first lady of Ghana; Ivan Kuras, vice prime minister of Ukraine; and a Jordanian princess. Clinton's name was last on a list of other speakers who were not quoted.
The first lady's comments could further complicate Sino-U.S. relations, which were frayed in May when the Clinton administration yielded to congressional pressure and granted a visa to Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui to attend a reunion at his alma mater, Cornell University. The detention of Chinese American Harry Wu, a crusader against conditions in China's prisons and forced labor camp system, also dealt a blow to relations.
by CNB