U.N. rights envoy says Chinese authorities interfered with his work

By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - A United Nations-appointed human rights envoy said on Tuesday that the Chinese government interfered with his work during a visit to China by blocking access to individuals whom he had hoped to meet. Philip Alston, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, told reporters at the end of a nine-day visit to China that he had notified the government in advance of academics he wanted to meet on his visit, a routine practice for a U.N. special rapporteur. "None of those meetings were arranged, and the message I got from many of the people I contacted was that they had been advised that they should be on vacation at this time," said Alston, an Australian who is a law professor at the New York University School of Law.

Continue reading...