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HRW Director: China's Respect for Human Rights on 'Downward Trajectory'

VOA News

   The executive director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, says
   China's decision to deny him entry into Hong Kong shows "the downward
   trajectory of Beijing's respect for human rights."

   In an interview with VOA's Mandarin Service Monday, Roth said that his
   case illustrates the problem in Hong Kong which he said is Beijing's
   undermining of the "one country, two systems" arrangement that China
   agreed to when Hong Kong was returned from Britain.

   Roth had traveled to Hong Kong on Sunday with plans to launch the
   organization's "World Report 2020"

   Human Rights Watch was scheduled to release the report on January 15th
   at a news conference in Hong Kong. Roth's introductory essay to the
   652-page report warns that China's government is "carrying out an
   intensive attack on the global system for enforcing human rights."

   Roth said he was told by immigration officials that the reason he was
   being denied entry into Hong Kong was for "immigration reasons" but was
   given no further explanation.

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