WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (AFP) - A US Congressional panel monitoring human rights and legal reforms in China urged President George W. Bush Tuesday to press Beijing to allow a UN probe on torture in the country's prisons.
It urged Bush and Congress to pressure the Chinese government "to fulfill, without further delay, its longstanding commitment to allow an unconditional visit by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture."
After about a decade of discussions, China finally agreed to allow the first visit by rapporteur Theo van Boven in June this year but postponed it at the last minute, prompting criticism by human rights groups and others.
The Congressional Executive Commission on China (CECC) said in its annual report released Tuesday that Bush and the US legislature should continue to encourage public debate and criticism of torture in China, by pressing Beijing to live up to its pledge to allow the independent UN probe.
It said while efforts have been made to combat the practice of torture in the past year, "China lacks the public institutions necessary to monitor and expose law enforcement abuses."
In Van Boven's annual report released in March, the section on China was the longest, with more than 130 cases of reported torture and abuse.
Rights groups say Chinese police and security services commonly use torture for punishment and to obtain confessions and other information but Beijing has rejected the charges.
It is difficult to establish exactly how widespread abuses are with requests for access by independent observers regularly turned down.
China said it postponed van Boven's visit in June because it needed more time to prepare for the mission. Technical reasons were also cited for the delay.
The call for a swift UN mission to investigate torture charges was among several recommendations adopted almost unanimously by the CECC, which has legislative mandate to monitor human rights and rule of law in China.
Other recommendations sought improvements in human and labour rights, freedom of speech and the press and other civil liberties.
The commission said it found "limited progress over the past year" in human rights and rule of law in China but also "severe and continuing problems on many of the issues critical to ensuring that its citizens enjoy internationally recognized human rights."
It charged that the Chinese government's repression of religious freedom had grown more severe over the past year. Beijing was also accused of violating workers rights and punishing workers who advocate for change.