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China puts off torture inspections

China has postponed a visit by the UN special investigator on torture, saying it needs more time to prepare, an official said yesterday.

Theo van Boven had planned to visit later this month to investigate reports of abuses in Chinese jails, but the visit has been put off until later this year, van Boven said in a statement.

Rights groups say Chinese police and security services commonly use torture as punishment and to obtain confessions or information. China routinely denies the charges.

"The need for additional time to prepare for the two-week visit, especially given the different authorities, departments and provinces involved, was cited by the government as a reason for the postponement," a statement on van Boven's Web site said.

The UN has tried for almost a decade to arrange the inspector's visit, but China's government has repeatedly stalled on granting permission.

Human-rights groups say China has been unwilling to accept the terms of a visit, which include measures such as allowing unlimited access to prisons without prior notice and confidential interviews with detainees and representatives of civic groups.

However, van Boven said China had accepted his conditions as part of its invitation issued last November.

China's Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment on the postponement.

A report by the Xinhua News Agency quoted van Boven's statement and said such invitations were part of China's commitment to the international community. The report defended the government's human-rights record, saying its efforts to improve human rights among Chinese had "won appreciation from the international community."

Van Boven's statement said his visit's goal was to "assess first-hand the situation in the country concerning torture, including institutional and legislative factors that contribute to such practices.

"While a visit to China has been long-awaited ... he is assured that the need for further preparation indicates the importance the Government attaches to the visit," the statement added.

Human-rights groups claim detainees, including those perceived as political opponents of the ruling Communist Party, face regular abuse in China.

The banned spiritual movement Falun Gong says its practitioners have been tortured and killed by the hundreds in Chinese prisons and labor camps.

A New York-based group, Human Rights in China, expressed disappointment over the postponement of the inspector's visit. Beijing appeared to have made the invitation to deflect criticism, only to abandon it once international pressure had lessened, the group said.

"This eleventh-hour postponement raises serious questions about the sincerity of the [Chinese] government's commitment to international cooperation," the group said in a news release.
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