Human rights in the People's Republic of China

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The Falun Gong -Praktizierende Gao Rongrong from the province of Liaoning was tortured while she was in custody in 2005.

The People's Republic of China has the human rights "respected the state and ensures While in 2004 (and 55 years after statehood) with the addition of human rights " in its Constitution incorporated (Article 33/3), as well as formal and, not least international due to the Under pressure, the most important human rights conventions of the United Nations have now been ratified, but in reality they are still systematically disregarded. Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch as well as the UN Human Rights Council accuse the People's Republic, as well as Chinese intellectuals and oppositionists (e.g. in Charter 08 ), of violating the most fundamental human rights. Ever since the massacre of June 4, 1989 on Tian'anmen Square , the issue of human rights has been a permanent focus of European policy on China.

Human rights violations

torture

In 1997, China published statistics on torture . Thereafter, an average of 364 cases of torture were recorded annually from 1979 to 1989. In the 1990s, mostly more than 400 cases were known. For the two years 1993 and 1994 it was also admitted that 241 people were tortured to death.

As of 2000, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture received 314 reports of torture involving more than 1,160 people. Two thirds of the victims were Falun Gong followers, 11% Uyghurs , 8% prostitutes , 6% Tibetans , 5% human rights activists , 2% political dissidents and 2% others ( HIV / AIDS infected persons and active members of religious groups). In 2005 Manfred Nowak was the first UN special rapporteur on torture to visit the People's Republic of China . After two weeks, he found that although the torture was on the decline, it was still widespread. He also said that Chinese officials had obstructed his investigation by inter alia. a. Intimidating people he tried to interview.

Victims said they had been beaten with clubs, as well as being tortured with electric batons and burning cigarettes. When they passed out, buckets of water were poured over them to wake them up. The interrogators stepped on the fingers of male prisoners. Female prisoners were said to have been stripped and sexually abused . A mother overheard her son being tortured in the next room while she was also being tortured.

On July 26, 2006, China's attorney general issued guidelines outlining criteria for prosecuting officials for abuse of power. Criteria are the use of beatings, the binding of prisoners, deprivation of food, the exposure of prisoners to the weather and cold, serious injuries to suspects, and direct and indirect orders to use torture.

In 2007, Vice Attorney General Wang Zhenchuan publicly admitted that almost every misjudgment in recent years has resulted from illegal interrogations. According to a report by Human Rights in China (HRIC), z. For example, political prisoner Guo Feixiong was arrested for trying to defend politically persecuted people in court. While in custody, according to the HRIC, he was hung from the ceiling by his arms and legs while the police electrified his genitals with a high-voltage electric baton.

The Chinese government is officially against torture. However, in 2008 the UN Human Rights Committee continued to accuse China of widespread and routine use of torture. Supporters of certain religions and members of ethnic minorities are particularly affected.

In March 2009, former Chinese Vice Justice Minister Duan Zhengkun criticized torture in Chinese prisons, which is used to force inmates to make confessions. In his opinion, the institutions should no longer be run by the same security agencies that arrest suspects. State media announced that prisons should be checked more intensively, also to reduce violence among inmates.

Removal of organs from living people

Former Canadian Secretary of State for Asia and the Pacific, David Kilgour PC, and human rights lawyer David Matas made 2006 allegations that organs were removed from people living in China. The allegations were that Falun Gong practitioners were systematically harvested from alive bodies in large numbers without their consent. The victims would be killed during or after the operation, and the body would be cremated, leaving no traces.

On April 6, 2007, Beijing passed an organ transplant control law that only allows voluntary donations to be used. Deputy Health Minister Huang Jiefu had previously admitted that most organs were transplanted from those who were executed.

On July 1, 2006, an ordinance came into force in China that forbids the sale of organs. However, in November 2006, Deputy Health Minister Huang indirectly admitted that this ordinance was not being enforced by saying "secret business must be banned". The UN Special Representative on Torture Manfred Nowak noted that an increase in organ transplants in China coincided with the start of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. In late 2008, the UN Committee against Torture asked the Chinese government to immediately initiate an independent investigation into allegations that Falun Gong practitioners were being tortured and used for organ harvesting.

On December 12, 2013, the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning the harvesting of organs from Falun Gong prisoners of conscience and other minorities such as Tibetans , Uyghurs, and domestic Christians. In the resolution it stated u. a. "Its deep concern at the persistent and credible reports of systematic, state-approved organ harvesting from conscientious objectors in the People's Republic of China, including large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners, because of their religious beliefs and members of other religious and ethnic minorities. ”The resolution called for the immediate release of all prisoners of conscience and urged China to respond to United Nations inquiries about organ sources used in transplants. This resolution was u. a. transmitted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the United Nations Human Rights Council , the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Chinese National People's Congress.

On April 27, 2016, 12 EU MPs from five political groups submitted the “Written Declaration 48 on Measures against Organ Harvesting from Prisoners of Conscience in China”, calling on the Commission and the Council of the European Parliament to “immediately conduct an independent investigation into continued trafficking with human organs in the People's Republic of China ”. This declaration required the approval of the majority of the MEPs (with a deadline of July 27, 2016) in order to be forwarded to the Commission and the Council of the European Parliament. By July 27, a majority of 414 of the 751 MPs from all member states and all parliamentary groups in the European Parliament signed their vote in favor of the Commission and the Council of the European Parliament implementing the Parliament's resolution of December 12, 2013 on organ removal in China and report to Parliament on the matter. EU Parliament President Martin Schulz read out the result of the vote and the content of the Written Declaration 48 at the first session of Parliament in Strasbourg on September 12, 2016.

On June 22, 2016, the former Canadian State Secretary and Public Prosecutor David Kilgour, together with human rights lawyer David Matas and China analyst and investigative journalist Ethan Gutmann, published the jointly prepared investigation report "Bloody Harvest / The Slaughter - An Update" . The 680-page report is a forensic analysis of over 2300 Chinese documents and website information. According to the investigation report, between 60,000 and 100,000 organ transplants have taken place in 712 liver and kidney transplant centers across China between 2000 and 2016, so that to date approximately 1, 5 million organ transplants have been performed without China having a functioning organ donation system.

death penalty

World map showing the death penalty status of all countries
Blue : Death penalty abolished without exception.
Light blue : death penalty in martial law.
Khaki : No use for at least 10 years.
Orange : use against adults only.
Red : can also be used against young people.

Alongside the Islamic regimes, the People's Republic of China is one of the few countries in which minors are also executed. According to the United Nations Secretary-General , China was the country with the highest number of executions per capita in the world between 1994 and 1999, after Singapore , Saudi Arabia , Belarus , Sierra Leone , Kyrgyzstan and Jordan . Liu Renwen, a professor at the International Legal Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that around 8,000 people are executed each year in China. That would mean about 20 times as many death sentences in China as in all other countries in the world combined. 68 different offenses can be punished with death. Including bribery, the theft of gasoline, the training of criminal methods and the killing of certain specially protected animals such as B. the panda . Not only are acts of violence considered capital crimes in China , embezzlement and tax evasion can also be punishable by the death penalty. The inconsistent and sometimes corrupt nature of the Chinese legal system also calls into question the fair use of the death penalty.

In January 2007, state media announced that all death sentences would be re-examined by the Supreme Court, a practice that had been overturned in 1983. Given these changes, 2007 figures show a substantial decrease in executions, with officially only 470 death sentences being carried out. However, Amnesty International said the actual numbers are likely to be in the thousands.

One child policy

Poster with the inscription: "Please consider the birth planning for a prosperous, strong nation and a happy family."

China's birth control , commonly known as the one-child policy , was instituted by the Chinese government in 1979 to tackle the problem of overpopulation. Since then it has been illegal to have more than one child. This could be punished with fines and imprisonment. The one-child policy has officially ended in October 2015. However, birth control laws still exist.

Gender-specific abortions, abandonment and killing of children are prohibited. Despite this legal situation, the United States Department of State , the United Kingdom Parliament and Amnesty International have stated that Chinese family planning contributes to infanticide.

This policy is also expected to contribute to gender imbalance: an average of 1,100 boys are born for every 1,000 girls, and 1,200 in some regions. An abortion rate of 30 to 50 per 100 births has also been reported.

It is also argued that the one-child policy is ineffective at its cost and that the marked decline in population growth began in 1979 for reasons unrelated to the policy. In the countryside, where around 80% of the population lives, birth rates have never fallen below 2.5 per woman. Still, the Chinese government estimates that the one-child policy has reduced the total birth rate by at least 250 million.

In 2002, the relevant laws were modified so that ethnic minorities and the rural population can have more than one child. In any case, the policy in the country was not strictly enforced. If both spouses were only children themselves, they could have more than one child.

Workers' Rights and Privacy

The right to work and privacy are other controversial human rights issues in China. There have been various reports of the denial of key International Labor Organization conventions for workers. One such report was published by the International Labor Rights Fund in October 2006, which documented breaches of the minimum wage, long working hours and inappropriate actions against workers. Workers are not allowed to form their own unions in the workplace, only to join the state-approved ones. It is discussed to what extent these organizations can stand up for the rights of workers.

Even though the Chinese government no longer interferes with the privacy of the Chinese as much as it used to, it still believes it is necessary to control what people say in public. Internet forums, e-mails and international mail (which are sometimes inexplicably “delayed” or simply “disappear”) are strictly controlled.

The question of North Korean refugees also keeps coming back. Official policy is to bring them back to North Korea . But these policies are not enforced evenly, and a significant number of them remain in China (some move on to other countries). Although it is a violation of international law to deport political refugees, their situation as illegal immigrants is precarious - their rights are not always protected. Some of them are lured into marriage or prostitution.

African students have complained about their treatment in China, which was largely ignored until 1988, when "students protested against what they called 'Chinese apartheid'." African officials took notice of this issue and the organization of the African Unit officially protested. The chairman of this organization, Mali's President Moussa Traoré , came to China on a truth-finding mission. According to the Guardian's 1989 Third World Report, “Chinese apartheid” threatens Beijing's entire relationship with the continent.

Darfur conflict and support for dictatorships

Human rights organizations have criticized China for its political support for the dictatorial regime of Sudan , which is committing mass killings in Darfur . China is Sudan's most important trading partner with a 40% share in oil. China is also selling small arms to Sudan. China has threatened to veto actions by the UN Security Council to try to resolve the crisis in Darfur.

China responded to this criticism by arguing that "it is irresponsible and unfair to link the Darfur issue to the Olympic Games in China because the Darfur issue is neither an internal matter for China nor is it caused by China".

In July 2008, the BBC reported that China, in violation of the 2006 arms embargo, trained fighter pilots for Sudan and sold military trucks to Sudan.

Legal system

The independence of the judiciary is not guaranteed in China. The court system is controlled by the Communist Party and within the courts there is, in accordance with the Court Organization Act, a judicial committee dominated by the party, which can claim the sole processing of court cases in order to assert that the "general interests of the state" take precedence over political ones To decide points of view. In addition, court rulings can always be changed by the higher party authorities. This has also led to corruption and abuse of administrative rights.

In 1997, Chinese lawyers discussed the introduction of various fundamental points. These include the presumption of innocence, the burden of proof, the right to remain silent in interviews and negotiations, personal testimony in court, inadmissibility of illegally extorted evidence, questioning of experts as experts, reliability of investigations and independence of the judiciary as a whole (quoted from Ira Belkin). Some of these points are now being implemented in law. One problem with the Chinese legal system, however, is to actually enforce reforms introduced by the National People's Congress at all levels.

Arbitrary Detention

In addition to the regular judicial system, there is also the possibility of "administrative detention" by the police authorities. The police can therefore forward a criminal case either to the public prosecutor's office or to a separate department of the police authority. In the latter case, the negotiation is carried out at the authority. Detention imposed by the police is then referred to as administrative detention. In the past, this was even the normal case, also due to a poorly developed judicial system. In this regard, there is also talk of a “black hole” in the judicial system. A significant improvement in this coexistence was expected for 2008, but has not yet taken place.

The Laojiao Prisons also provided a system for the arbitrary internment of political prisoners in labor camps .

Freedom of expression, of the press, of assembly and of communication

Although the 1982 constitution guarantees freedom of speech, the Chinese government often uses the threat to the state to arrest critics of the regime. The government also has a strong presence in the media as it is controlled directly by the state. Chinese law forbids advocating the independence or self-determination of any territory that Beijing considers under its jurisdiction. Publicly challenging the leadership of the Communist Party in China is also prohibited. Therefore, mention of democracy, the Tibetan independence movement or Taiwan as an independent state, certain religious organizations or anything else that could question the legitimacy of the CCP is banned from publications and the Internet. In her 2004 book, Media Control in China, journalist He Qinglian examines the government's control over the Internet and all other media in China. Her book shows how Chinese media control relies more on communist propaganda leadership and punishment of dissenters than on pre-publication censorship.

Foreign search engines like Microsoft Bing , Yahoo! and Google Search China have been criticized for supporting these practices by e.g. B. banned the word "democracy" from their chat rooms in China. In particular, Yahoo! said that they did not want to protect the privacy or confidentiality of Chinese customers from government authorities. For this, Yahoo! criticized by Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders for acting as a censor. In October 2008, Citizen Lab announced that TOM Online's Chinese Skype software would filter out sensitive words and log related messages to a file on an unsecured server. Skype President Josh Silveran said it was "common knowledge" that TOM "contains procedures to block messages that contain certain words that the Chinese authorities considered offensive."

Social networks like Facebook , Twitter or Instagram are completely blocked in China by the " Great Firewall " ( see list of blocked websites ).

In the Press Freedom Index 2010 by Reporters Without Borders, China ranks 171st out of 178 places and, with 77 internet users imprisoned, is described as the "enemy of the internet".

In the People's Republic of China, it is common practice for well-known dissidents to be picked up by police forces before major events that attract a great deal of Western media attention and temporarily deported to a distant location and, to a certain extent, given “compulsory leave at the expense of the police”. This is to prevent them from coming into the focus of Western media during these events.

Influence of the 2008 Olympics

Before the 2008 Olympic Games , China was internationally criticized for its human rights policy. China has formally recognized the need to improve the human rights situation and has started a human rights dialogue with the US. However, a number of foreign protesters were expelled from China during the Games. Others were arrested at the closing ceremony and then deported.

The Chinese government had promised to give permission for protests in so-called "protest parks" during the games. But on August 18, it was reported that of 77 applications, 74 had been withdrawn, two postponed and one rejected. The BBC reported that two elderly women were sentenced to re-education through work for asking permission to protest. Chinese officials said they were unaware of these punishments. Her sentence was suspended for good behavior and limited to restriction of movement. In addition, many human rights lawyers and political dissidents were rounded up and the migrant workers who had built the Olympic stadiums were told to leave the city because their looks could detract from the image of a clean, modern nation. "

A Chinese lawyer said, "If protests were accepted, it would create a chain reaction among Chinese petitioners so that others would voice their problems as well." One academic commented, "If you have guests for dinner, clean the house too and admonish your children to behave. "

Critics said the Chinese authorities failed to keep their promises about freedom of the press. The ITV News reporter John Ray was arrested while covering a Tibetan protest. Foreign journalists also reported that their access to certain websites, including those of human rights organizations, was restricted. The President of the International Olympic Committee , Jacques Rogge , said towards the end of the Games, “The rules may not be perfect, but they are an improvement on the situation before. We hope they keep improving. " The Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCCC) issued a statement that despite the welcome procedure in terms of access and number of press conferences, the FCCC was alarmed about the use of violence, intimidation and harassment. The club has confirmed more than 30 cases of media interference since the Olympic Media Center opened on July 25, and is reviewing at least 20 other cases that have been reported.

Freedom of movement

The Communist Party came to power in the late 1940s and introduced the planned economy . In 1958, Mao also implemented a residence permit system that defined where people were allowed to work and classified them as farmers or workers. If a farmer wanted to move from the countryside to an urban area to work, he had to register with the relevant agencies. The number of farmers allowed to move was closely monitored. People who worked outside of their permitted area were withheld from food, housing and healthcare. Education, employment, marriage and so on were controlled. One reason for establishing this system was to prevent the chaos that could be caused by foreseeable massive urbanization. As a result of the one-two-system country policy introduced by Deng Xiaoping , Chinese citizens needed a permit to travel to the Hong Kong and Macau special districts .

Urban workers enjoy a variety of social, economic, and cultural facilities, while farmers, the majority of the Chinese population, are treated like second-class citizens, according to a University of Alberta academic. The Washington Times reported in 2000 that migrant workers were treated like second-class citizens by a system that was so discriminatory that it had been compared to apartheid, despite playing an important role in the growing prosperity of Chinese villages. Anita Chan posits that the Chinese registration system created a situation analogous to that of South Africa , which served to regulate the supply of cheap labor. The Center for Human Rights and Democracy has said that Han Chinese were much more easily allowed to live in Tibetan cities than Tibetans.

The abolition of this policy has been proposed in eleven provinces, mainly on the east coast. Following a widely publicized incident in which a fashion designer was beaten to death in Guangdong Province in 2003 , the law has already been changed to remove migrant workers from being detained under the arrest and repatriation system . The Beijing attorney who publicized the incident said it marked the end of the hukou system: the system was lifted in most of the smaller cities; it has "almost lost its function" in large cities like Beijing and Shanghai. After z. Sometimes violent protests, the system of custody and repatriation was lifted in 2003 in connection with a death , with which, from 1982 on, mainly migrant workers had been imprisoned in internment camps.

As before, however, the “rural residents” attribute is permanently assigned to a person in the population register, regardless of whether they change their place of residence. The migrant workers in the cities remain "rural residents" with significantly lower rights than the "urban residents" and the "rural residents" are not allowed to look for work in the cities without official approval.

Religious freedom

During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), especially during the campaign to destroy the Four Elders , religious matters of all kinds were persecuted by the communists. Many religious buildings were looted and destroyed. Since then, no efforts have been made to repair or rebuild them and protect historical and religious sites. The United States Department of State in its 2005 Human Rights Report criticized that not enough had been done to repair or restore damaged and destroyed sites.

The 1982 constitution guarantees citizens the right to believe in any religion. However, this freedom differs from the general concept of religious freedom as it is understood in the West and is subject to restrictions.

Communist Party members are officially required to be atheists . Many party members break this rule privately because openly practiced religiosity could reduce their professional and social advancement prospects. All religious groups have to register with the state. In addition, the government tries to keep control not only over the religious content, but also over the choice of leaders.

Christianity

The government tries to exercise strict control over all religions. Therefore, the only legal Christian denominations under the CCP's leadership, such as B. the Evangelical Three Self Church and the Chinese Catholic-Patriotic Association . It has been suggested by some that teaching in state-accepted churches would at least be recorded, if not modified, by the party.

The Roman Catholic Church in particular is viewed as an external power and the Pope is denied the right to appoint bishops in China. Accordingly, the official church is controlled by the state. This in turn is viewed by Rome as a schismatic group. There is also an illegal underground church that professes to be the Pope.

According to the Voice of the Martyrs , the growth of organized religious groups in China is controlled and regulated by the state. This prevents the growth of groups or authorities outside the control of the government and the CCP. It is further assumed that "unregistered religious groups experience varying degrees of public interference, persecution and oppression". Falun Gong is cited as a group that has been perceived as a threat to the regime.

The members of the house churches (see Independent Churches in China ) are more numerous than the official church or the Catholic underground church (since the latter is explicitly illegal). Because they operate outside of the government's control and restrictions, their members and leaders are sometimes persecuted by local government officials. This tracking can e.g. B. in the form of imprisonment or more often through re-education through work . Harsh penalties are not uncommon, with personal property confiscated as payment if payment is refused or not possible. House churches are not officially banned and official tolerance towards them has been growing since the 1990s. Most observers believe that government officials' persecution of house churches is based less on ideological opposition to religion than on fears of a center of popular mobilization outside the control of the communist party.

In 2019, the People's Republic of China ranks 27th in the World Persecution Index for Christians, which is published by the Open Doors mission and aid organization .

In 2007, after the death of Bishop Michael Fu Tieshan, Pastor Joseph Li Shan was appointed as the new Bishop of Beijing . In contrast to the nominations of bishops in other countries, this was not done by the Pope, but Li Shan was the first bishop of the state-run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association to receive advance approval from Rome. Li Shan is said to have kept a greater distance from the authorities than his predecessor, who also held government offices and worked closely with the state religious authorities.

Buddhism

The State Ministry of Religious Affairs published a 14-part rule to limit the Dalai Lama's influence . This explains that the procedure for identifying reincarnations and the result of the finding requires state approval.

When the Dalai Lama authorized the election of a child to succeed Panchen Lama , who died in 1989, in May 1995 , the Chinese government declared this election invalid. She then looked for a suitable successor herself. The successor identified by the Dalai Lama has not been seen in public since then.

Examples of political control are:

  • Limiting the number of monks to reduce the faithful population
  • forced denunciation of the Dalai Lama as a spiritual leader
  • Expulsion of unpopular monks from monasteries
  • forced public expressions of loyalty to the regime of the People's Republic of China
  • Restrictions on religious studies for children and adolescents under the age of 18.

Before 1959 there were over 10,000 monks in Drepung , Tibet's largest monastery, in 2005 there were around 640. Beijing now limits the number of monks to 700.

In 2007 Buddhist monks were arrested for celebrating the award of the gold medal to the Dalai Lama by the US Congress .

Falun Gong

After seven years of widespread acceptance, on July 20, 1999, the government banned Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa ) and launched a national crackdown on the practice. A series of petitions to official bodies and a gathering of 10,000 supporters in Zhongnanhai , the headquarters of the Communist Party and government on April 25, 1999 , to demand the release of Tianjin practitioners and an end to the escalation of harassment against them, led to the massive persecution of Falun Gong .

According to Pulitzer Prize winner Ian Johnson, the CCP has mobilized every sector of society to persecute Falun Gong: the media, the police, the military, the education system, families, and the workplace. The 610 Office was also set up to monitor the "terrorist campaign against Falun Gong," according to Forbes Magazine . The campaign was supported by widespread propaganda on television, newspapers, radio and the Internet. Amnesty International was particularly concerned about reports of torture, illegal detention including labor camps and psychiatric abuse.

Political freedom

The American NGO Freedom House classified China as “not free” in 2017/18. China received a point value of 15 ( 2017 ) or 14 ( 2018 ) on the index of the degree of freedom (0 = maximum unfree, 100 = maximum free) in the range from 0 to 100 . In the democracy index of the magazine The Economist , China is ranked 136th out of 167 states as an authoritarian state .

The People's Republic of China is known for its intolerance towards organized dissidents. They are arrested regularly and are often detained for long periods without a trial. Cases of torture, forced confessions, and forced labor are frequently reported. The freedom of assembly is very limited. The latest mass movement for political freedom ended in 1989 with the Tian'anmen massacre . It is estimated, depending on the source, that 200 to 10,000 people were killed.

In October 2008 the European Parliament awarded the EU Human Rights Prize to the dissident Hu Jia . The Chinese government then criticized the European Parliament for “gross interference in China's internal affairs” by awarding this award to an “imprisoned criminal (...) in disregard of our repeated representations”.

Ethnic minorities

There are 56 nationalities in China . Article 4 of the Chinese Constitution says: “All nationalities in the People's Republic of China are equal.” And quotas are typically reserved for ethnic minorities at universities, for example, but in reality minorities are strongly oppressed. The government is particularly reactive to aspirations for independence or political autonomy, such as those by Tibetans and Uyghurs in the rural provinces of western China. Human rights organizations criticize the fact that the Chinese government wants to culturally and politically suppress various ethnic minorities. B. Han Chinese are encouraging to move to areas such as Xinjiang and Tibet in order to increase the loyalty of these regions to Beijing, which means that the Tibetan population has lost jobs on a large scale.

Uighurs

In 2014, the Chinese leadership launched the program of assimilation policy , the Xinjiang re-education camps , an ethnocide against Muslim Uyghurs and other minorities in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region .

Tibet

In 1950 the People's Liberation Army marched into Tibet . After the failed Tibet uprising of 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India. In 1991, he stated that Chinese settlers in Tibet would establish a "Chinese apartheid system":

"The new Chinese settlers have created an alternative society - a Chinese apartheid that denies us Tibetans equal social and economic status in our own country and threatens to eventually roll over and absorb us."

In a selection of speeches by the Dalai Lama published in 1998, he again referred to "Chinese apartheid". He expanded his position by saying that human rights were violated by discrimination against Tibetans under a policy of "separation and assimilation". According to the Chinese government, however, the rights granted in the Tibet Autonomous Region are “perfect”. She also explains that the life expectancy of Tibetans rose from 36 years in 1959 to 65 years in 1999. According to her, illiteracy fell by 47% over the same period. Furthermore, the State Council puts the Tibetan share of the population of the Tibet Autonomous Region at 94%. The Heritage Foundation, on the other hand, said on the matter:

“If Tibetan sovereignty looks grim, the question of the People's Republic of China's treatment of Tibetans is all too clear. After the invasion of Tibet in 1950, the Chinese communists killed over a million Tibetans, destroyed 6,000 monasteries and turned the northeastern province of Tibet, Amdo , into a gulag that is estimated to be home to up to ten million people. A quarter of a million Chinese soldiers remain stationed in Tibet. In addition, 7.5 million Chinese have followed Beijing's incentive and moved to Tibet - they now make up the majority of the population compared to 6 million Tibetans. Through what has been called Chinese apartheid, ethnic Tibetans now have a lower life expectancy, a lower level of literacy and a lower per capita income than the Chinese residents of Tibet. "

In 2001 Tibetan exiled groups obtained accreditation at the meeting of non-governmental organizations sponsored by the United Nations. On August 29, Jampal Chosang, the chairman of the Tibetan Coalition, said that China had introduced a "new form of apartheid" in Tibet, as evidenced by the fact that "Tibetan culture, religion and national identity are viewed as a threat" to China. The Tibetan Society of Great Britain has called on the British government to “condemn the apartheid regime in Tibet that threatens Tibetans as a minority in their own country and the use of their language, in education, in the practice of their religion and in relation to employment opportunities discriminated. "

In March 2008, riots broke out again in Tibet . According to the Chinese government, 20 people died during the riot. One Tibetan was killed by police shots, while Tibetan "insurgents" were responsible for the other deaths. The Tibetan government-in-exile, however, spoke of more than 200 dead. A boycott of the Olympic Games was also discussed in this context. Anonymous death threats were made against foreign journalists who tried to cover the riots.

Disability rights

In China, universities are allowed to reject applicants with disabilities. While disabled children have the right to attend school, schools often provide or deny the children materials they need because of their impairment.

Social credit system

With the “social credit system” there is an attempt in China to achieve total control of the population by awarding “points” for (from the Communist Party's point of view) desirable behavior, or withdrawing them for negative behavior. This system goes hand in hand with an almost ubiquitous surveillance , from whose data a large part of the point allocation is fed. Anyone who achieves a point level that is too low must expect restrictions in everyday life, for example when accessing social services or looking for jobs and training.

Human rights from the perspective of the Communist Party

The Chinese Action Plans for Human Rights ( see below ) address the issues of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights . The meaning of human rights from the point of view of the single ruling Communist Party of China differs fundamentally from that of the United Nations: While universal human rights are actually inviolable and inalienable basic rights of every single person as a bearer of individual human dignity , which primarily protect them from attacks by the To protect the state, in the People's Republic the improvement of the prosperity and quality of life of the population has priority over the freedom of individuals. A local functionary is therefore measured primarily by economic success , which in case of doubt is more important than protecting the individual from human rights violations. In the context of this socialist argument, the Chinese government also traditionally points out that since the founding of the People's Republic the prosperity of the population has increased massively and, as a result, the life expectancy of the Chinese population has risen from 35 years to 73 years now; and thus defends the suppression of individual human rights with the "higher good" of social welfare . According to the official point of view, China protects human rights accordingly and expands them according to its own ideas.

The government also emphasizes that the unity and stability of China are the basis for realizing human rights. In China, however, the unity and stability of China are not taken for granted and are always endangered due to the “painful experiences” of the last 150 years. Therefore, legal security, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of information and freedom of assembly are subject to the preservation of the unity and stability of China, which are regarded as a priority good. According to the Chinese hierarchy of norms, the stability and unity of China as well as the economic prosperity of the population are above the individual rights of the citizens.

In the view of the Communist Party of China, which has ruled alone since 1949, human rights encompassed both rights and duties; they encompassed the individual as well as the community. Human rights are not a “rigid category”, but they develop and change. They can therefore be represented as follows:

  1. Human rights are the product of social developments. They only exist within the framework of state law.
  2. Human rights are subject to an ongoing dynamic process of change. First there were individual human rights, and later social, cultural and collective human rights were added.
  3. Human rights belong to the “superstructure”, which is primarily shaped by the economic basis. The specific human rights situation in a country is therefore primarily dependent on the economic conditions. Economic development is therefore of central importance for the progress of the human rights situation. The more backward the economic situation, the more unsatisfactory the human rights situation is.
  4. The decisive criterion for the human rights situation in a developing country, and China still regards itself as a developing country, is whether the political system promotes economic and social progress and the quality of life of the people. With the help of China's rapid economic development, human rights in China can be gradually expanded.
  5. Human rights vis-à-vis society are linked to individual duties vis-à-vis society. Those who fail to fulfill their duties cannot insist on rights.
  6. There are individual and there are collective human rights, in which the rights of the community take precedence over the rights of the individual. Deng Xiaoping put it this way: “Support human rights, but don't forget that there are still state rights! When it comes to human rights, don't forget that there is the dignity of the state! "

The following also apply:

  1. The "rainbow concept" of human rights
    According to this concept, human rights encompass both individual and collective and political as well as economic, social and cultural human rights. While “in the West” they tend to emphasize only individual human rights, there is also a collective human right of the Chinese people to economic, cultural and political self-determination and development.
  2. The thesis of the equality of human rights
    According to the Chinese interpretation, the rights to social development, food and work are to be valued as equal human rights. B. Protection from torture. From this, China derives the idea that an economically well-developed state that refuses sufficient economic aid to economically underdeveloped states and thus disregards the “international human right” to development and solidarity, for its part, cannot possibly demand that an economically underdeveloped state respect political human rights .
  3. Human rights restrictions
    China emphasizes that some UN resolutions explicitly provide for the possibility of restricting human rights. For example, according to a resolution of the UN General Assembly of December 16, 1966, government agencies can restrict freedom of expression if this is necessary for the protection of national security, public order, public health and public morality and if there is a legal basis.

Chinese reactions to the allegations

The Chinese government rejects allegations of human rights violations accordingly. For the Chinese, the focus is on the fact that China is still a poor country and the Chinese are proud of the way in which poverty has been and is being reduced in China. It is pointed out that in the last 30 years over 500 million people have been lifted out of great poverty and that wealth is being created for large parts of the population. This is the "true realization of human rights". However, this is not possible if every “cross driver” or “incitator” is granted every freedom. With regard to the suppression of Falun Gong followers, the Chinese government points out, for example, that Falun Gong has actively threatened the stability of China and thus the livelihood of large parts of the population of China and will continue to threaten it. China therefore had an obligation to its own people to take massive action against Falun Gong.

According to the government, "the West" is instrumentalizing the human rights issue to "morally disguise a tough policy of interests in favor of its own national interests." economic development, regardless of the consequences for the Chinese people.

The basis for China's international positioning in human rights issues is still the White Paper Human Rights in China published in 1991. The communist government issued the policy document in response to international and national criticism of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre . In the eyes of political scientists and historians, it serves as a propaganda tool for the government to justify human rights violations in the People's Republic of China to foreign critics. This is done in particular by the fact that the right to subsistence (or livelihood) of individuals is presented in the White Paper on Human Rights as the most important human right overriding all others. Adequate material supplies for the population are shown as a state task, which legitimizes the rule of the Communist Party with recourse to a human right. The White Paper also states that cultural, social, historical and economic differences are a prerequisite for the way in which human rights are interpreted in the respective state and thus emphasize the sovereignty of China. This position therefore still serves Chinese diplomats today as a basis for legitimation in international human rights discourse. The leaders of China emphasize that human rights are respected, protected and developed in China. Speaking at the opening of the 17th Party Congress , President and Chairperson of the CCP Hu Jintao said, “Human rights should be respected and guaranteed. The judicial organs should be lawful, independent and impartial. The government organs should be subject to public control. ”When criticizing human rights violations, one could refer to the statements of the top politicians.

Compared to publicly presented general allegations of human rights violations, e.g. B. Discrimination against migrant workers , people react negatively. This applies both to the representatives of the state and to large parts of the population. The vast majority of the population is proud of what has been achieved in China in recent years, particularly economically, and it is expected that this will also be recognized from abroad. A criticism of China should be preceded by recognition of what has been achieved.

The change in mood in China is often underestimated by the “western” side. In the last few years of steady economic boom, there was an explosion of national self-confidence and self-esteem; Kishore Mahbubani, a diplomat from Singapore, wrote about it as early as 1994: “It is difficult for Europeans or North Americans to grasp the great scope of the spiritual revolution in East Asia because they cannot penetrate the minds of the East Asians. Their heads have never been immersed in colonialism. They never had to struggle with the deeply conscious assumption that they might just be second class human beings, never good enough to get up. The growing awareness of the East Asians that they can do everything just as well, if not better, than other cultures has led to an explosion of self-confidence. "In China, great importance is attached to the fact that a discussion with China is always on an" equal footing ". to lead. Criticism of human rights is quickly seen as a teaching mastery in the old colonialist style, which is rejected from the outset.

Furthermore, the demand for human rights by Western states is quickly seen as "hypocritical and mendacious". It should not be forgotten that when the Western colonial powers occupied parts of China, they cared little about the human rights of the Chinese. During the Opium War in 1839, England warred the Empire of China in order to be able to sell opium throughout China , although the sale of opium was of course prohibited in England itself. It is believed that many allegations of human rights violations are not made because of the people affected, but to weaken China politically and to hinder economic growth. China, however, is a country that declares of itself that it still has deficits that it has in dialogue with nations such as B. want to eliminate Germany. If the progress China has made in the last 30 years, including on the question of human rights, is recognized, and if the criticism is precise, then something can be achieved with human rights criticism in China.

The political leadership of the People's Republic, which assumes that countries with different levels of economic development and cultures must necessarily accept different restrictions on human rights, regards the demands for universal validity of human rights as a form of the old “colonial arrogance of Europe”. This is why Western human rights demands are often rejected out of principle, often with the accusation that the West applies double standards. In this context, Harro von Senger points out that the British colonial power failed to extend the validity of the European Convention on Human Rights to Hong Kong before the crown colony was handed over to China. In China the impression should be created that the European emphasis on individual human rights only applies to Europeans or people of the “white race”.

Action Plan for Human Rights 2009-2010

On April 13, 2009, the Chinese government published an action plan for human rights for 2009–2010 to further develop human rights in China. To present the Chinese government's view of human rights, this plan and the explanations of the Chinese initiators are presented in more detail below.

The Chinese action plan comprises 54 pages and reads like a comprehensive, sometimes very detailed government program. It is z. For example, the reconstruction of the areas destroyed by the earthquake in 2008, the rights of the elderly and the disabled, environmental protection, the right to work, education and much more were discussed. Much of the action plan is a declaration of intent that is impossible to implement within two years. B. "Securing the rights and interests of farmers".

Basic principles of the plan

The initiators present the principles of the plan as follows: “The plan is based on the following fundamental principles. First, the plan is structured in accordance with the basic principles of the Chinese Constitution, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and international conventions on civil and political rights. It aims to improve laws and regulations that concern human rights and advance the human rights cause in general. Second, based on the principle that all types of human rights are related and inseparable, the plan encourages the coordinated development of economic, social and cultural, as well as civil and political rights. The plan promotes the balanced development between individual rights and the rights of the community. Thirdly, within the framework of Chinese realities, the plan ensures the feasibility of the proposed goals and measures and scientifically represents the further development of the cause of human rights in China. "

The document acknowledges that China has a long way to go in improving human rights. The document says: “Due to the influences and limitations of nature, history, culture, economy, social development and other factors, China faces many challenges and has a long way to go in its efforts to improve the human rights situation . "

The plan covers material improvements, labor and social affairs, and democracy and participation, with the current priorities in the development of human rights in the field of material improvements. They are described by the initiators as follows.

Material improvements

The Chinese government says it respects the universal principles of human rights, but, given the current realities in China, it gives priority to food protection and the economic development of the population over other human rights. It also promises to guarantee the rights of all citizens to equal participation and development based on the rapid and healthy development of the economy and society.

Work and social

In government work, the government emphasizes the principle that the government is there for the people and makes every effort to solve the most important and pressing problems of the people. It supports civic equality and equality before the law and seeks to ensure that all citizens enjoy their rights to education, work, medical care, retirement benefits and housing.

Democracy and participation

The Chinese government insists on securing the position of the people as rulers of the country. The government is increasing the participation of the population in political affairs at all levels. It improves the institutions for democracy, conducts democratic elections and democratizes decision-making. The government acts according to the mandate that the population has the right to be informed, to participate, to be heard and to oversee the institutions.

Fields of action

In the Action Plan for Human Rights 2009–2010, detailed topics are summarized in five fields of action.

  1. Economic, social and cultural rights: The field of action on economic, social and cultural issues includes the right to work, a life above the subsistence level, social security, treatment in the event of illness, education, environmental protection. Furthermore, cultural rights, safeguarding the rights and interests of farmers, guaranteeing human rights by rebuilding the areas destroyed by the earthquake in Wenchuan, Sichuan.
  2. Civil and political rights: The field of action “Civil and political rights” comprises the rights of citizens, prisoners, the right to a fair trial and freedom of religious belief. Furthermore, the right to information, participation, the right to be heard and control of the state organs.
  3. Minority and Vulnerable Rights: The rights of minorities and the vulnerable include the rights of ethnic minorities, women, children, the elderly and the disabled.
  4. Education in Human Rights: International Obligations for Human Rights

Details about civil rights

According to this action plan, the rights of the citizen are only one point among many and the fields of action addressed under civil rights are surprising for western viewers. The development of civil rights should take place in the following problem areas: prohibition of torture, prohibition of imprisonment without legal basis, strict monitoring of the death penalty, monitoring of judicial organs.

Details on the rights of prisoners

Ill-treatment of prisoners is a common problem in China. With a suspected very high number of unreported cases, 930 state employees were convicted of extorting statements through torture in 2006.

The issue of abuse of prisoners occupies a larger place in the human rights plan. Essentially, however, only bans that have already existed are repeated and sometimes unrealistic declarations of intent are formulated. Essentially it is stated:

Collective punishment, ill-treatment, insults or the extortion of confessions through torture are prohibited. Investigations of prisoners before and after interrogation are intended to protect the prisoners. The observation of the prisoners by lawyers is to be improved and letter counters are to be set up, with the help of which the prisoners can complain.

Assessments

Comment from Amnesty International

Amnesty International welcomes the plan. According to AI, the plan shows that the Chinese government is devoting more space to protecting human rights. If the goals of the plan were achieved, they would be an important step towards more human rights. According to AI, there are major weaknesses in the plan. "The focus of the plan is on economic, social and cultural rights at the expense of civil and political rights."

The plan does not address the arrest of human rights defenders who only insist on the right to free speech, it does not address internet censorship and administrative detention. With regard to the death penalty, the prohibition of torture and freedom of religion, only the existing laws are repeated, which, however, have not yet adequately protected human rights.

Commentary in the New York Times (by K. Bradsher)

Human rights activists welcome Beijing's politicians showing an interest in human rights issues. But they note that getting the issues listed will take years of work at the local, provincial, and national levels to get through, with many leaders showing little interest in changes that limit their power. However, it is a step forward and it is good to have some concrete actions targeting 2010. But there are some serious abuses that were not addressed in the plan.

The National Human Rights Plan focuses on economic and social rights, such as: B. the right of urban and rural populations to a secure standard of living. He also moves primarily in areas where things are already moving, such as posting more information about government decision making. According to the plan, the authorities should disclose the relevant data on income, expenditure and the use of funds.

The Human Rights Plan does not address the system of administrative detention and the problem that people who submit submissions at higher administrative levels are more often arrested. The government itself admits that China still has a long way to go on the road to improving human rights.

Action Plan for Human Rights 2012–2015

In June 2012, a National Action Plan for Human Rights in China 2012–2015 was adopted. In essence, it is a continuation of the action plan for 2009-2010. With the White Papers on the Development of Human Rights 2012 and 2013, the Chinese government presented its view of the current situation of human rights in minute detail. In June 2015, the White Paper on the Development of Human Rights in 2014 was presented. In the foreword, the following topics are listed as successes for 2014: creation of moderate prosperity, deepening of reforms, advances in the law-based administration and strengthening of party discipline. In the original text at xinhuanet:

“2014 the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government jointly pushed forward the implementation of the country's four major strategic tasks: (1) build a moderately prosperous society; (2) drive the reform in a deeper level; (3) advance the law-based governance of China; and (4) strengthen party self-discipline. The Chinese people enjoyed practical benefits from the development of the country, and their human rights situation also made new progress. "

Successes and failures of human rights policy

Poverty reduction

China is still a country where a large part of the population lives in poverty. However, in the People's Republic of China more than 600 million fewer people lived in extreme poverty in 2005 than in 1981. China has succeeded in reducing mass poverty. The success in the fight against poverty began with the economic reforms in 1978, between 1981 and 2001 the proportion of the population living below the subsistence level fell from 53 percent to 8 percent. In the Global Hunger Index , China improved from 1990 to 2012 from 11.9 (situation is serious) to 5.1 (minor problems). Even so, 100 million citizens still live. below the subsistence level established by the UN. Since the beginning of the 1980s, however, there have been no more famines in China, despite its high population rate and climatically critical areas . However, pollution remains hazardous to health . B. 300 million Chinese have no access to clean drinking water.

Income and wealth are still distributed in a socially unfair way. The People's Republic of China ranks 92nd in the world in terms of income distribution according to the Gini coefficient . That puts it behind the United States, which is 91st.

Location of the farmers

Agricultural taxes for farmers were abolished in 2006, and there is social assistance and general health insurance. However, much is still at a very low level and there is a large income gap between the rural and urban populations. There is very different information about the income gap between rural and urban populations. Officially the ratio is 1: 3, but unofficially a ratio of 1: 5 is also estimated. The result depends heavily on whether the income of migrant workers in the cities is included in the income of the rural population. In any case, the worst poverty in China is among the rural population. According to official figures, the average income of rural residents in the first half of 2008 was 2,528 yuan, which is the equivalent of about 361 euros a month. For years there has been an argument about the development of rural areas between the “economic liberals”, who want to extend the market economy to include agriculture, and the “New Left”, who fear high unemployment in rural areas given the free play of market forces. Current politics tend more towards the "New Left".

Employment Law

Since the beginning of 2008, an employment contract has been mandatory for every employment relationship and which also includes health and pension insurance as an integral part. This regulation is still often disregarded, but for the first time in China a worker has rights to the employer based on his employment relationship.

See also

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