(TibetanReview.net, Apr05’20) – London-based International Council of Jurists (ICJ) has on Apr 4 urged the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to make China pay “exemplary damages” for its “grave offences against humanity”, alleging the coronavirus pandemic was primarily a conspiracy of Beijing to catapult itself as a superpower. Also, a conservative think tank in London has said China could be sued under 10 possible legal avenues. And Australian politicians have said there would have to be discussion on how Canberra works with China following the virus outbreak.
“Chinese government’s inaction in arresting the spread of the virus has resulted in recession across the world and loss of trillions of dollars and rendered jobless to millions of workers in India and rest of the world,” PTI news agency Apr 4 quoted ICJ President Adish C Aggarwala as saying.
He has expressed wonder why the virus had not spread in all provinces of China but at the same time, had spread to all countries in the world.
He has sought direction from the UNHRC to China to pay “exemplary damages to the entire world and in particular to India” for spreading the disease.
“This pandemic declared by the WHO is primarily due to conspiracy of Chinese government aimed at catapulting itself to the position of a superpower of the World and undermining other countries through biological warfare and gross negligence and incompetence of Chinese government and their authorities to alert the WHO and rest of the world,” Aggarwala was quoted as saying in a statement.
He has also accused China of violating the UN Charters and Guidelines in responding to the pandemic while telling the WHO that the Covid-19 was not a pandemic warranting its interference.
“Lack of transparency in dissemination of information relating to the spread of this virus and continued misleading statements had resulted in violation of human rights of the entire global community warranting immediate interference and prompt action against China as mandated under Article 25 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Aggarwala has said.
The ICJ is a body of jurists from different countries involved in research and has been holding conferences and seminars on a wide range of subjects having international and domestic significance, in matters of human rights, constitutional duties and others.
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Also, London-based conservative London think tank The Henry Jackson Society has said China should be sued under international law for trillions of dollars for its initial cover-up of the coronavirus pandemic which has caused nearly 65,000 deaths and trillions of dollars in economic damage, reported smh.com.au Apr 5.
The group has said in its report that damages should be for at least the £3.2 ($6.5 trillion) being spent by G7 nations propping up their domestic economies as governments forced their citizens to stay at home so they could try and contain the disease’s spread.
The group says China could be sued under 10 possible legal avenues, including the International Health Regulations, which were beefed up after the SARS outbreak, which China had also tried to cover up.
The group’s report had said that had China provided accurate information at an early juncture, “the infection would not have left China.”
China only reported the disease to the WHO on December 31 and said there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission, the report noted.
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Australian politicians had launched a scathing attack on the Chinese Communist Party who they have said failed to contain the killer coronavirus, reported dailymail.co.uk Apr 4. It cited senior Liberal and Labor MPs as saying China must reap the economic consequences after misleading information about the coronavirus.
“The Australian people aren’t mugs. They know how COVID-19 started and how the CCP lied about it,” Liberal MP Andrew Hastie was quoted as saying.
He and Labor’s Anthony Byrne have said there would have to be discussion on how Australia works with China following the virus outbreak.
