Åpningsinnlegg ved menneskerettighetsdialogen med Kina

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Assistant Minister Liu Zhenmin,
Excellencies, Dear Participants                           

On behalf of the Norwegian delegation, I am honored to be here in China to take part in this 13th Roundtable on Human Rights and the Rule of Law.

I have very much anticipated this roundtable, and I am looking forward to the exchanges I am going to have with colleague Assistant Minister Liu following this opening session.

I am very pleased that we managed to arrange this meeting so soon after the 12th Dialogue in Oslo in December 2009.

It is more than 1,5 years since our two countries last met on political level to have human rights consultations on issues of common concern. And we have many things to talk about.

Human rights is as you all know an important part of our bilateral agenda, - an agenda that is growing deeper and wider every day.

But before I continue to say more on the human rights agenda, let me also say that our relations cover a wide range of issues.

Over the past few months there has been an intensive exchange of visits between our two countries, indicating that 2010 is a busy year in our relations.

We are of course represented with a Norwegian Pavillion at the World EXPO in Shanghai, and at the end of May, Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon, accompanied by two ministers, visited China at the occasion of Norway Day at the EXPO. 

There are also a number of high level delegations going to Norway.

This week, a delegation from China, lead by Head of the Disiplinary Committee of the Communist Party of China and member of the standing committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Mr. He Guoqiang is visiting Norway, and will be having discussions with both Prime Minister Stoltenberg and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Støre.

And I had also the pleasure of meeting your colleague in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vice Minister Fu Ying this Monday in Oslo. 

As we normally do when we have bilateral meetings at political level, these meetings will also include human rights issues – so both in Norway and here in Beijing human rights are central this week.

However, the yearly human rights dialogue is the meeting where we have the time to go more deeply into details.

While I had the mentioned meeting in Oslo on Monday, most of the delegation from Norway conducted a field visit to Guizhou Province.

For some, this has been their first meeting with China, and from what the participants have told me, this serves as a very useful background and a platform for the roundtable discussions that we will have over the next two days. 

I think these field visits are important. Last December, during the 12th Roundtable meeting in Norway, the Norwegian side organized a visit to Finnmark County for all the Chinese participants.

My delegation has informed me, that the visit to Guizhou this time included a wide range of meetings and visits linked to topics discussed in the four working groups.

On behalf of the Norwegian delegation, I would like to thank the Chinese MFA and the Guizhou Provincial Government for making all the necessary arrangements and to useful information.

Ladies and Gentlemen;

Since we met at the last dialogue on political level in 2008, a lot has happened internationally, and in our two countries.

Both of our countries have been subject to extensive Universal Periodic Reviews in the Human Rights Council, and we now face the follow up process of the recommendations we received during the hearings in Geneva.

Norway has issues to improve, and China has issues to improve.

After another four years we will both go through the process again, and we will be tested to see how we have addressed the recommendations given and whether we have met the standards we set ourselves. 

There are also other issues in the Human Rights Council were we look forward to continue to work together with you. As you know, human rights defenders is an important pillar in Norway’s human rights policy.

We noted with great enthusiasm that China supported the Norwegian initiative regarding the UN resolution on Human Rights Defenders earlier this year.

Human Rights defenders play an important role in society, and Norway will continue our work on the protection of their right to pursue their important work.

This will also be a topic during our consultations today, since it is also an issue of great concern to us.

As the world steadily changes, we have to face new challenges, and this year’s revision of the topics for the four working groups clearly reflects this.

Through positive dialogue in the short period since the 12th Dialogue meeting in Oslo, we have managed to identify four relevant topics that will be the main focus for each of the four working groups.

Let me say a few things about the four working groups in our dialogue, their topics and related issues:

The working group on Workers’ rights was the first group to be established in the current format.

The financial crisis has shown the relevance of the Decent Work Agenda as a tool to combat the crisis.

To avoid a global “raise to the bottom” it is now more important than ever to promote, protect and implement workers’ rights.

China played a key role in the process leading to the adaptation of the ILO Declaration on “Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work” from 1998.

We appreciate China’s efforts and important role in the follow-up also in the ILO Declaration “Social Justice for a fair globalization” from 2008.

I would also like to commend China for ratifying the Palermo Protocol this year.

This protocol is of great importance to the global fight against trafficking in human beings, as well as forced labor, and is a priority also for the Norwegian Government. 

This year the Group on Worker’s Rights will focus on women’s position in working life in Norway and China, developments of new laws and the role of justice and labor inspection authorities.

And since we have a new focus this year, I will allow myself to elaborate on this issue.

Because in Norway, we have experienced that promoting and implementing women’s rights has been key also to foster economic growth and welfare.

So it is not only a question about making sure that women’s position is strengthened, it is a question of growth and sustainable development as well.

Another important issue under this working group is Corporate Social Responsibility. Norway has a 7 point international strategy for promoting decent work and worker’s right.

Let me highlight two of the ambitious points in the Strategy of particular relevance:

Firstly; Safeguarding workers rights in other countries.

We strongly encourage Norwegian companies to exercise social responsibility.

Companies’ operations must be carried out in accordance with human rights, and the same requirements must apply to business partners and suppliers.

The Government expects Norwegian companies to base their operations on the 8 ILO core conventions and to have good Occupation Health, Safety and Environment standards that ensure the health and safety of employees.

Secondly, the Strategy focuses on strengthening the verification and enforcement of legislation concerning labor standards.

This is done for instance through our development policy, the work in ILO and by the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority, cooperating with corresponding authorities in other countries.

There is for instance close contact between the Norwegian Ministry for Labor and the Chinese State Administration on Work Safety aiming at signing a MoU during 2010 on “occupational safety and health”. 

Let me go to the next working group.

In 2006 the working group on Minorities’ rights met for the first time during the 9th Roundtable in Beijing.

Since then, there has been several important field visits to Xinjiang (xin-djang), Tibet, Finnmark, and now to Guizhou.

Each visit has been followed by in depth discussions in the working groups.

This year, it has been suggested to look at the consultation mechanisms between minority and majority populations.

In Norway, the government has had an agreement with the Sami Parliament since 2005 on consultations on a wide range of issues of particular concern to the Sami population.

I believe consultation mechanisms like these are important – and in countries with indigenous peoples and minorities – the majority group bears a responsibility to make sure that minorities are protected.

Another issue to be discussed is the use of minority languages.

The working group on detainees and prisoners’ rights is the largest group this year.

On the Norwegian side it is a combination of experts based on knowledge and competence of the participants in the two former groups.

We have agreed this year to focus on a theme seen as relevant for both sides to follow up the discussion from the dialogue last December:

How to secure the human rights of detainees and prisoners by protecting against cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and against torture.

This is a large and important topic, and covers a wide range of possible perspectives for further exchange in the working group.

A topic of particular concern for Norway is cases involving the death penalty.

These cases demand particularly careful consideration and unbiased review.

Norway firmly opposes the use of capital punishment, and as you already know, we actively work to promote its universal abolition.

This is an issue Norway continues to raise with all countries that practice death penalty.

6 weeks ago, I had a global dialogue with the US – and I raised it there – and I will raise it here.

Media plays an important role in the reporting of criminal cases.

At the same time, the media shapes public opinion, and thus carries a responsibility to provide unbiased reporting in criminal cases.

Recently, cases related to torture and death penalty have been raised in Chinese media, creating discussions on these issues. I believe that is important.

This brings me over to the new group:

This year we have a new working group on Media Freedom and Responsibility. We are all very much looking forward to entering into a dialogue on this.

As this is the very first time our media experts meet, we expect the main focus of the working group to be to identify areas of possible future cooperation.

I am certain that this working group will have a lot of interesting topics to discuss.

Among these will be education of journalists, the responsibility of the journalist and media in society, new media, online journalism, access to information, questions of ethical reporting and how to report on issues like corruption and environmental problems.

The Norwegian members of the working group on Media Freedom and Responsibility are all highly qualified experts representing different fields of the media in the Norwegian society. 

On behalf of all of them, I can say that they are very excited and are looking very much forward to having a dialogue with Chinese experts on different media topics.

Let me conclude by reiterating Norway's commitment to the human rights dialogue with China. It has been, and continues to be an important pillar in our bilateral and multilateral co-operation.

I hope we during these two days will advance further.

I wish you all a successful dialogue, with frank and constructive discussions in a friendly atmosphere.

Thank you!