January 1, 2004
Leadership changes early in 2003 sparked optimism that respect for human rights in China would improve. Although China did take steps to advance legal reform and to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the overall rights situation remained unchanged and even deteriorated in some respects. The Ministry of Culture announced new measures to increase Internet surveillance and increased censorship led to an upsurge in arrests of those using the medium to express political opinions. Arbitrary forced evictions were more frequent in both rural and urban areas, including in Beijing where construction of Olympics sites was getting underway. In Tibet and Xinjiang, officials further narrowed space for dissent and cultural expression.
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China's ruling Communist Party bans opposition political parties and religious organizations independent of government control. China's ethnic minorities face political repression and cultural control by the state, with some of the worst abuses reported in Tibet and Xinjiang. Although the government permits some environmental and HIV/AIDS-related non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to operate, most other NGOs are government-controlled. China prohibits domestic human rights groups and bars entry to international human rights groups. Chinese citizens who contact international rights groups risk imprisonment.
- Xinjiang and the "War on Terror"
- HIV/AIDS and SARS
- North Korean Refugees
- Restrictions on the Internet and Media
- Forced Eviction
- Labor Rights
- The Rights of Women and Girls
- China's Legal System
- Tibet
- Hong Kong
- Key International Actors
Xinjiang and the "War on Terror"
China used its support for the U.S.-led "war against terrorism" to leverage international support for, or at least acquiescence in, its own crackdown on ethnic Uighurs in the northwestern Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Xinjiang is home to Turkic-speaking Muslims. Along with other ethnic groups on China's borders, Uighurs struggle for cultural survival. Some Uighur groups peacefully press for genuine political autonomy, some for independence, and some resort to violence. Chinese authorities do not distinguish between peaceful and violent dissent, or between separatism and international terrorism. The state's crackdown on Uighurs has been characterized by systematic human rights violations including arbitrary arrests, closed trials, extensive use of the death penalty, religious discrimination, and restrictions on observation of traditional holidays and use of the Uighur language.
HIV/AIDS and SARS
China faces what could be the largest AIDS epidemic in the world. According to official statistics, at least 840,000 men, women, and children are living with HIV/AIDS—but the real numbers are probably much higher. Local authorities have covered up the epidemic for many reasons, but chiefly in order to protect external investments. During the 1990s, officials in Henan and other provinces were complicit in the transmission of HIV to villagers through unsanitary but highly profitable blood collection centers.
A Human Rights Watch report in September documented widespread discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS, the arbitrary detention of injection drug users who are at high risk of HIV, and restrictions on journalists and AIDS activists. In November, the U.N., several heads of state, and AIDS scientists joined Chinese activists and scholars in pressing Chinese leaders to provide anti-retroviral treatment, address discrimination, and to take a public stand on the AIDS epidemic as they had on SARS. On World AIDS Day (December 1, 2003), Premier Wen Jiabao made his first public visit to an AIDS ward, promised free antiretroviral treatment for people with HIV/AIDS, and called for an end to stigma and discrimination against people living with the virus. . However, there has been no indication that the state will investigate officials responsible for the HIV transmission scandal, or of concrete plans to address discrimination.
China's initial cover up of the 2003 SARS epidemic prompted the first ever World Health Organization travel advisories. The resulting decline in international business and tourism sparked the firing of over 100 health officials and new promises of openness. However, in early 2004, the reappearance of SARS in Guangdong province led to a crackdown on the newspaper that reported it.
North Korean Refugees
China has continued to forcibly repatriate North Koreans who flee to China to escape harsh political and economic conditions in their homeland. However, as a party to the 1951 United Nations Convention on the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, China is obliged not to send home anyone who may face harsh repression upon return, and many of those China is sending back likely face such consequences.
Restrictions on the Internet and Media
Freedom of expression suffered further restrictions in 2003. In May, almost three years after Internet activist Huang Qi was first detained, a court in Sichuan province sentenced him to a five-year prison term on charges of subversion. He was the first webmaster to be sentenced in China. Between September and November, many others were apprehended or sentenced for posting political opinions on bulletin boards and chat rooms. Yang Zili and three other young intellectuals were sentenced to prison terms of eight and ten years. Chinese users cannot access foreign sites that government officials consider "sensitive," domestic sites are irregularly shut down, and sites are not allowed to publish news that has not been officially cleared. Monitoring and censorship of electronic mail and bulletin boards is routine, and China is reportedly training "cyber police" to monitor the activities of Chinese activists who live outside of China. Chinese officials routinely censor media reports on many subjects.
Forced Eviction
China's rapid economic development and modernization has resulted in forced evictions in both urban and rural areas. Residents complain of low compensation and lack of advance notice and due process. Some report the use of bulldozers and hired thugs to threaten or harm those who refuse to move. Tenants often fail to gain redress through the official arbitration system or local courts. Protests in 2003 escalated in several cities with a series of widely publicized suicide protests. In response, police arrested many tenants' rights advocates, most prominent Xu Yonghai, Zheng Enchong, and Ye Guoqiang. Many evicted residents have posted their complaints on the Internet. Chinese scholars have called for legal and constitutional reform, and state media have published editorials criticizing the government on this issue. In early 2004, Beijing announced some planned policy and constitutional reforms that would bolster property rights. Without changes in the judicial system, however, these will be difficult to implement.
Labor Rights
Chinese workers have yet to reap the benefits of the country's rapid economic development. Most workers lack adequate wages, minimal health and safety protections, and the right to organize independent unions to improve their conditions. Many who work in state-owned enterprises have lost their pensions when the companies were privatized or went bankrupt.
Millions have left the countryside to seek work in cities. Without official residence permits, migrant workers lack access to basic services and are vulnerable to police abuse. In March 2003, Sun Zhigang, a fashion designer seeking work in Guangzhou, was detained after failing to produce his temporary residence permit and was beaten to death while in police custody. His death ignited a massive outcry on the Internet, and prompted some Chinese legal scholars to call for reform. In response, new policies abolished temporary residence permits and changed migrant detention centers into social service centers. However, there have been reports that few of those eligible make use of the centers. Some pilot projects in Guangzhou educate migrant workers about their legal rights and assist them with suits against employers on workplace injuries and other issues.
China continues to prohibit independent trade unions. Some companies hold elections for union representatives, but those have been plagued by reports of corruption and management interference. Many regions have seen massive labor protests. In May 2003, after charges such as contacting the foreign press and trials lacking basic procedural safeguards, Liaoning province labor activists Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang were given seven and four-year sentences respectively. In October, they were transferred to Lingyuan prison. Family members report both men are seriously ill.
The Rights of Women and Girls
Women continue to be underrepresented in China's political leadership and in senior positions in business. The sex industry continues to grow in impoverished rural areas of China, with sex workers facing police harassment, abuse, and arbitrary detention. A cultural preference for boy children combined with state population control policies have resulted in a shortage of women and girls in rural areas, creating a market for the lucrative trafficking industry. While the state has cracked down on some trafficking rings, many Chinese women and girls, especially those from rural and ethnic communities, are kidnapped and either sold as wives or trafficked into the sex industry. Reports of forced abortion and sterilization in some rural areas persist, though these have not been confirmed.
China's Legal System
China has made efforts to improve its legal system, but serious problems remain. Many laws are vaguely worded, inviting politically motivated application by prosecutors and judges. For example, the state uses the "State Secrets Law" to jail political and religious dissidents and others whose views are deemed dangerous. China has made progress in its handling of state compensation suits, especially for wrongful arrest and for HIV transmission in some hospitals. It has also improved legal education, but more training is needed to sensitize public security officers, lawyers, prosecutors, and judges to international human rights standards. Legal aid is not widely available, leaving most of the population unable to afford to file lawsuits. Defense lawyers are subject to state prosecution. Trial procedures favor the prosecution, and many provisions encoded in the 1997 amendments to the Criminal Procedure Law (CPL) are ignored in practice.
Administrative detention is still common and occurs without judicial oversight. "Social undesirables," including drug dealers, commercial sex workers, and political dissidents, may be sentenced to "reeducation through labor" camps for months or years without trial. Human Rights Watch has called for the abolition of all forms of administrative detention.
Tibet
For China, the term "Tibet" is reserved for the Tibetan Autonomous Region. However, many Tibetans speak of a "greater Tibet," including Tibetan areas in Qinghai, Yunnan, Gansu, and Sichuan. More than 50 percent of ethnic Tibetans under Chinese authority live in these regions. The Chinese leadership continues to limit Tibetan religious and cultural expression and seeks to curtail the Dalai Lama's political and religious influence in all Tibetan areas. Severely repressive measures limit any display of support for an independent Tibet. The Chinese government encourages migration of ethnic Chinese to Tibetan areas.
In 2002 a Sichuan provincial court sentenced Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, a locally prominent lama, to death with a two-year suspended sentence for "causing explosions [and] inciting the separation of the state." His alleged co-conspirator, Lobsang Dondrup, was executed in January 2003. Tenzin Delek's arrest and conviction represented the culmination of a decade-long effort by Chinese authorities to curb his efforts to foster Tibetan Buddhism and develop Tibetan social institutions. His case has become a focal point for Tibetans struggling to retain their cultural identity. Several of Tenzin Delek's associates remain in prison. Close to a hundred others were detained for periods ranging from days to months, most for attempting to bring information about the crackdown to the attention of the foreign community. Credible sources report that many of those held have been subject to serious ill-treatment and torture.
Hong Kong
In 2002, Hong Kong's Security Bureau released a consultation document, "Proposals to Implement Article 23 of the Basic Law," outlining new laws on sedition, subversion, treason, and secession. Critics expressed concern over many provisions—for example, that dissent could be interpreted as sedition, and that routine reporting on relations between Hong Kong and mainland China could be interpreted as a breach of the proposed state secrets provisions. A protest in Hong Kong by hundreds of thousands of people on July 1, 2003 led the Hong Kong government to indefinitely table the proposed legislation, and led to the resignation of several Hong Kong officials including Secretary for Security Regina Ip. The Chinese government has resisted initiatives to democratize Hong Kong's government through universal suffrage and the democratic election of a chief executive.
The imprint of political control from Beijing is obvious in other ways. Anna Wu Hung-yuk, chairperson of Hong Kong's Equal Opportunities Commission, was replaced in 2003 in a move widely believed to be aimed at curtailing the commission's work. The Hong Kong government has also made it increasingly difficult for opposition groups to obtain permits for marches, demonstrations, and rallies.
Key International Actors
2003 saw China's first visit by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, Katarina Tomasevski. Tomasevski's report condemned China's record on education, asserting that Beijing has failed to provide education for children of migrant workers and does not provide adequate funding for education. China has extended an invitation to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture. However, terms consistent with his mandate have not yet been agreed upon. No country tabled a resolution condemning China's human rights record at the 2003 annual meeting of the U.N. Commission for Human Rights.
A number of states participate in regular bilateral human rights dialogues with China. There is growing debate about the efficacy of the process. Human Rights Watch has called for a process that includes measurable benchmarks, a timetable for meeting those benchmarks, and transparency about the process. China has ratified a number of international human rights treaties including the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It has signed but not ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. China submitted its first report to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2003. Major international donors to China include the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; the UK's Department for International Development (DFID); the European Union; and the governments of Japan and Australia. The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank facilitate private investment in a range of Chinese projects.
