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News Tip: 20th Anniversary of Tiananmen Square Time to Focus on Human Rights, Duke Expert Says

Robin Kirk, the director of the Duke Human Rights Center, is available to talk with media about the upcoming 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square massacre, which began June 4.

"Even as the Chinese economy has boomed, basic freedoms for its citizens have stagnated," Kirk says. "Critics continued to be jailed for voicing opinions. Yet despite threats, human rights advocates continue to speak out about the need for reforms, showing that the thirst for rights is widespread among China's people."

Kirk says the United States must show a leadership role in encouraging China to support human rights. "Secretary of State Clinton should support human rights leaders, fund rights work and keep rights at the center of the agenda, thereby allowing the United States to reassume its role as a leader for freedoms in China and the rest of the world.

"China needs reform from within as well as continued pressure from outside. Human rights protect a country's brilliant thinkers. Human rights foster debate and improve lives."

In 2007, Kirk wrote an op-ed about human rights in China; it is available online at http://news.duke.edu/2007/05/kirk_oped.html.

You can find more information about Kirk at http://www.duke.edu/web/rightsatduke/faculty.html#kirk.