Complaint to UNHRC on Covid an eyeball-catching nonsense: China

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 8

China on Wednesday refuted a “so-called complaint” sent to the UN Human Rights Council by the International Council of Jurists (ICJ) and All India Bar Association (AIBA) seeking compensation from China for the global spread of Covid.

Terming the complaint as “ridiculous and absolutely not worth refuting”, the Chinese embassy spokesperson Ji Rong said this was an effort to seek popularity by “eyeball-catching nonsense” in the name of fight against the epidemic.

On the contrary, Ji claimed remarkable achievements by China in battling the epidemic which is “obvious to all”. China and India too are working together and overcoming the difficult time, she said while terming any expectations of an outcome as “totally wrong calculation and wishful thinking”.

The petition, filed by a lawyer who heads both the outfits has accused China of inaction and negligence on spreading the virus worldwide and alleging that it had violated International Health Regulations (IHR), and International Human Rights and as also International Humanitarian Laws and UDHR clauses.

The lawyer also urged the UNHRC to investigate and direct the Chinese government to “adequately compensate the international community, particularly India, for surreptitiously developing a biological weapon capable of mass destruction of mankind”.