China Legal Reforms Accompanied by “Backsliding” on Human Rights
February 25, 2004
By US State Department
Although the Chinese government undertook some legal reforms in 2003, there was “backsliding” on key human rights issues during the year, according to the Country Report on Human Rights Practices in China released by the Department of State February 25.
During 2003, the report says, Chinese authorities carried out “arrests of individuals discussing sensitive subjects on the Internet, health activists, labor protesters, defense lawyers, journalists, house church members, and others seeking to take advantage of the space created by reforms.”
“Citizens did not have the right peacefully to change their government, and many who openly expressed dissenting political views were harassed, detained, or imprisoned. Authorities were quick to suppress religious, political, and social groups that they perceived as threatening to government authority or national stability,” the report continues.
The report also cites instances of extrajudicial killings, torture and mistreatment of prisoners, forced confessions, arbitrary arrest and detention, lengthy incommunicado detention, and denial of due process during the reporting period.
According to the report, the Chinese Government used the international war on terror “as a justification for cracking down harshly on suspected Uighur separatists expressing peaceful political dissent and on independent Muslim religious leaders.” The human rights situation in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and in some ethnically Tibetan regions outside the TAR also remained poor, the report says.
The “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices” are produced annually by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and submitted to Congress in compliance with the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
The complete report on China, which includes Hong Kong and Macau and an addendum on Tibet, can be found online at:
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27768.htm
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Following are excerpts from the 2003 State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices in China
CHINA
… The Government’s human rights record remained poor, and the Government continued to commit numerous and serious abuses. Although legal reforms continued, there was backsliding on key human rights issues during the year, including arrests of individuals discussing sensitive subjects on the Internet, health activists, labor protesters, defense lawyers, journalists, house church members, and others seeking to take advantage of the space created by reforms. Citizens did not have the right peacefully to change their government, and many who openly expressed dissenting political views were harassed, detained, or imprisoned. Authorities were quick to suppress religious, political, and social groups that they perceived as threatening to government authority or national stability.
Abuses included instances of extrajudicial killings, torture and mistreatment of prisoners, forced confessions, arbitrary arrest and detention, lengthy incommunicado detention, and denial of due process. Tibetan Lobsang Dondrub was executed in January, a day after his appeal was denied, despite promises made to diplomatic observers that the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) would review his case. In April, the Government officially concluded a nationwide “strike hard” campaign against crime, which was implemented with particular force in Xinjiang and included expedited trials and public executions. However, short-term campaigns against specific types of crime were launched in some areas during the year, and, in Xinjiang, particularly harsh treatment of suspected Uighur separatists reportedly continued after the official end of the nationwide strike hard campaign in April. Amnesty International (AI) reported that China executed more persons than any other country.
The judiciary was not independent, and the lack of due process remained a serious problem. Government pressure made it difficult for Chinese lawyers to represent criminal defendants. A number of attorneys were detained for representing their clients actively. During the year, Beijing defense lawyer Zhang Jianzhong and Shanghai housing advocate Zheng Enchong both were sentenced to multi-year prison terms in connection with their defense of controversial clients. The authorities routinely violated legal protections in the cases of political dissidents and religious figures. They generally attached higher priority to suppressing political opposition and maintaining public order than to enforcing legal norms or protecting individual rights.
Throughout the year, the Government prosecuted individuals for subversion and leaking state secrets as a means to harass and intimidate. In July, lawyer Zhao Changqing was sentenced to 5 years’ imprisonment on charges of subversion for his alleged role in drafting an open letter to the November 2002 16th Party Congress urging democratization. At least five others who signed the letter were also prosecuted on such charges. In October, former attorney Zheng Enchong was sentenced to 3 years in prison for “disclosing state secrets” as an alleged result of his providing information about labor and housing protests to a foreign human rights organization. The same month, house church member Liu Fenggang was detained on state secrets charges, allegedly for providing information to overseas nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) about his investigation into the destruction of house churches in Zhejiang Province. Others detained, prosecuted, or sentenced on state secrets charges included political dissident Yang Jianli and a number of Internet writers.
Over 250,000 persons were serving sentences, not subject to judicial review, in “reeducation-through-labor” camps. In April, inmate Zhang Bin was beaten to death in a reeducation-through-labor camp, prompting public debate on reeducation through labor and calls to abolish the system.
The number of individuals serving sentences for the now-repealed crime of counterrevolution was estimated at 500-600; many of these persons were imprisoned for the nonviolent expression of their political views. Credible sources estimated that as many as 2,000 persons remained in prison at year’s end for their activities during the June 1989 Tiananmen demonstrations.
The authorities released political activist Fang Jue in January. Many others, including China Democracy Party co-founders Wang Youcai and Qin Yongmin; Internet activists Xu Wei, Yang Zili, and Huang Qi; Uighur businesswoman Rebiya Kadeer; journalist Jiang Weiping; labor activists Yao Fuxin, Xiao Yunliang, and Liu Jingsheng; Catholic Bishop Su Zhimin; house church leaders Zhang Yinan, Liu Fenggang and Xu Yonghai; Tibetan nun Phuntsog Nyidrol; Uighur historian Tohti Tunyaz; and political dissident Yang Jianli remained imprisoned or under other forms of detention.
The Government used the international war on terror as a justification for cracking down harshly on suspected Uighur separatists expressing peaceful political dissent and on independent Muslim religious leaders. The human rights situation in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and in some ethnically Tibetan regions outside the TAR also remained poor (see Tibet Addendum).
The Government maintained tight restrictions on freedom of speech and of the press. The Government regulated the establishment and management of publications, controlled the broadcast media, at times censored foreign television broadcasts, and at times jammed radio signals from abroad. During the year, publications were closed and otherwise disciplined for publishing material deemed objectionable by the Government, and journalists, authors, academics, and researchers were harassed, detained, and arrested by the authorities. In May, Sichuan website manager Huang Qi and students belonging to the New Youth Study Group received long prison sentences for their Internet essays encouraging democracy. Others detained or convicted for their Internet activity included Tao Haidong, Luo Yongzhong, Du Daobin, Yan Jun, Li Zhi, and Jiang Lijun. In November, Beijing Normal University Student Liu Di and two others were released on bail after a year of pretrial detention in connection with their Internet postings. Internet use continued to grow in the country, even as the Government continued and intensified efforts to monitor and control use of the Internet and other wireless technology including cellular phones, pagers, and instant messaging devices. During the year, the Government blocked many websites, increased regulations on Internet cafes, and pressured Internet companies to pledge to censor objectionable content. NGOs reported that 39 journalists were imprisoned at year’s end and that 48 persons had been imprisoned by the Government for their Internet writing during China’s brief history of Internet use.
Initially, news about the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was strictly censored, and some journals were closed because they disclosed information about SARS. In April, the Government publicly acknowledged that the SARS epidemic was more serious than previously admitted. Those accused of interfering with SARS prevention were detained. Hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners were detained on such accusations. Information about the spread of HIV/AIDS also continued to be tightly controlled in some provinces. In June, hundreds of police violently suppressed protests by persons infected with HIV/AIDS in Xiongqiao village, Henan Province. Henan health official Ma Shiwen was detained during the year on charges of disclosing state secrets after providing information about the extent of the HIV epidemic in Henan Province to website publishers.
The Government severely restricted freedom of assembly and association and infringed on individuals’ rights to privacy.
While the number of religious believers in the country continued to grow, government respect for religious freedom remained poor. Members of unregistered Protestant and Catholic congregations; Muslim Uighurs; Tibetan Buddhists, particularly those residing within the TAR (see Tibet Addendum); and members of folk religions experienced ongoing and, in some cases, increased official interference, harassment, and repression. Protestant activists Zhang Yinan, Xu Yonghai, Liu Fenggang, and Zhang Shengqi were among those detained or sentenced. However, religious groups in some areas noted a greater freedom to worship than in the past. The Government continued to enforce regulations requiring all places of religious activity to register with the Government or to come under the supervision of official, “patriotic” religious organizations. In some areas, religious services were broken up and church leaders and adherents were harassed, detained, or beaten. At year’s end, scores of religious adherents remained in prison because of their religious activities. No visible progress was made in improving relations between the Government and the Vatican, although both sides claimed to be ready to resume negotiations aimed at establishing diplomatic relations. The Government continued its crackdown against the Falun Gong spiritual movement, and thousands of practitioners remained incarcerated in prisons, extrajudicial reeducation-through-labor camps, and psychiatric facilities. Several hundred Falun Gong adherents reportedly have died in detention due to torture, abuse, and neglect since the crackdown on Falun Gong began in 1999.
Freedom of movement continued to be restricted. The Government denied the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) permission to operate along its border with North Korea and deported several thousand North Koreans, many of whom faced persecution upon their return. Abuse and detention of North Koreans in the country was also reported. However, the Government continued to relax its residence-based registration requirements and eliminated requirements for work unit approval of certain personal decisions, such as getting married.
The Government did not permit independent domestic nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to monitor human rights conditions. In September, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education visited Beijing. Although the Government extended “unconditional” invitations to the U.N. Special Rapporteur for Torture, the U.N. Special Rapporteur for Religious Intolerance, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), expected visits did not occur by year’s end. Conditions imposed by the Government caused negotiations with the U.N. Special Rapporteur for Torture to break down and caused USCIRF twice to postpone a planned trip.
Violence against women (including imposition of a birth limitation policy coercive in nature that resulted in instances of forced abortion and forced sterilization), prostitution, and discrimination against women, persons with disabilities, and minorities continued to be problems.
Labor demonstrations, particularly those protesting nonpayment of back wages, continued but were not as large or widespread as those in 2002. In May, Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang, leaders of the largest demonstrations in 2002, were sentenced to prison terms on charges of subversion. Workplace safety remained a serious problem, particularly in the mining industry. The Government continued to deny internationally recognized worker rights, and forced labor in prison facilities remained a serious problem. Trafficking in persons also remained a serious problem.
However, significant legal reforms continued during the year. In June, the Government abolished the administrative detention system of “custody and repatriation” for migrants. Reforms also expanded legal aid and introduced restrictions on extended unlawful detention. In October, the Third Party Plenum formally approved a constitutional amendment that will, if approved at the March 2004 session of the National People’s Congress, put the protection of individual rights into China’s constitution for the first time. At year’s end, it remained unclear how these reforms would be implemented and what effect they would have….
(end excerpt)
(begin excerpt on Tibet)
TIBET
… The Government’s human rights record in Tibetan areas of China remained poor, although some positive developments continued. The Government permitted a second visit to the country by the Dalai Lama’s representatives and provided reporters and foreign officials with somewhat greater access to the TAR. The Government controlled information about all Tibetan areas, and in addition, strictly controlled access to the TAR, making it difficult to determine accurately the scope of human rights abuses. Authorities continued to commit serious human rights abuses, including execution without due process, torture, arbitrary arrest, detention without public trial, and lengthy detention of Tibetans for peacefully expressing their political or religious views. Deaths of at least 41 Tibetan political prisoners since 1989 can be attributed to severe abuse under detention; at least 20 of those prisoners had been in Lhasa’s TAR Prison (also known as Drapchi Prison). The overall level of repression of religious freedom in the TAR, while somewhat less oppressive for lay followers than in previous years, remained high. Conditions generally were less restrictive in Tibetan areas outside of the TAR. Individuals accused of political activism faced ongoing harassment during the year. There were reports of imprisonment and abuse of some nuns and monks accused of political activism. Security was intensified during sensitive anniversaries and festival days in some areas, while activities viewed as vehicles for political dissent, including celebration of some religious festivals, were suppressed. There were reports of small-scale political protests in a number of Tibetan areas….
(end excerpt on Tibet)
(begin excerpt on Hong Kong)
HONG KONG
… The Government generally respected the human rights of residents, and the law and judiciary provided effective means of dealing with individual instances of abuse. Human rights problems that existed both before and after the handover included: Limitations on residents’ ability to change their government and limitations on the power of the legislature to affect government policies; violence and discrimination against women; discrimination against ethnic minorities; restrictions on workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively; and trafficking in persons for the purposes of forced labor and prostitution. Despite the ban on the Falun Gong in mainland China, the Falun Gong remained legally registered and practitioners continued their activities in Hong Kong.
In September, the Government withdrew from legislative consideration proposed national security legislation required by Article 23 of the Basic Law. The withdrawal followed a series of large protests, including a July 1 demonstration in which approximately 500,000 persons participated, and intense public debate about the impact of such legislation on civil liberties and fundamental freedoms. Article 23 calls for the Government to draft and implement laws that criminalize subversion, secession, treason, sedition, and theft of state secrets, and to criminalize links with foreign political organizations that are harmful to national security. During the year, public demands also increased for the implementation of universal suffrage in the 2007 Chief Executive election and the 2008 Legislative Assembly election. In response, the Government announced that it would provide a timetable for public consultations by the end of the year. The Government’s plan was to commence consultations early in 2004 and 2005 and enact necessary legislation in 2006. However, following consultations with the PRC Government, a timetable for public consultations was not announced at year’s end….
(end excerpt on Hong Kong)
(begin excerpt on Macau)
MACAU
… The Government generally respected the human rights of its citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. These problems included the limited ability of citizens to change their government; limits on the legislature’s ability to initiate legislation; inadequate provision for persons with disabilities; and a lack of legal protection for strikes and collective bargaining rights….
>http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/p/tp-20040226-18.html