China adopts human rights treaty

China has formally notified the United Nations that it will abide by a key human rights treaty on economic and social rights -- though it will opt out of a clause allowing workers to form independent trade unions.

The Chinese deputy ambassador Shen Guogang at the UN said that China's ratification of the treaty showed that it had made great strides in improving human rights.

He said every country had a little room for improvement in its human rights record

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service