China: Reproach for Yahoo for aiding the prosecution of a regime critic

The on-line firm Yahoo has violated internationally accepted human rights standards through its support of the prosecution of a regime critic in China. This grave charge was brought on Friday by the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV). Yahoo ignored the principles of international business internationally passed by the United Nations in August 2003, which expressly forbid multinational firms supporting states in the violation of human rights.

„Yahoo’s support for China’s repression mechanism is a severe blow to the efforts of the multinational concerns” said the GfbV Asia expert Ulrich Delius. Yahoo is accused of enabling the arrest of the journalist Shi Tao, who is a critic of the regime. He was sentenced in April 2005 to ten years imprisonment.

„The on-line concern is betraying its own philosophy as a firm and violating its publicly proclaimed concern for the furtherance of democracy and of the free flow of information” criticised Delius. „It is far from convincing when Yahoo justifies its behaviour by declaring that one is bound by Chinese regulations and customs to make data available. For by leaning on customs one is leaving the door wide open for misuse.” It is ethically questionable for Yahoo to feel bound in its work in China out of respect for regulations and customs. The company must be aware of the fact that China’s power elite sees the internet as public enemy No. 1 and there is hardly a government which is more repressive in refusing to tolerate the freedom of the internet.

In the spring of this year the GfbV had called upon its members to protest against the questionable cooperation of Yahoo with the Chineseauthorities in censuring information on ‘”Falun Gong”, „Taiwan”, „Tibet” and „Xinjiang”. The company has so far made no response to these charges.