Access to Justice

Code of ethics

The People's Mediation Law, passed by the National People's Congress Standing Committee on August 28, 2010, became effective on January 1, 2011. The law's primary purpose is the resolution of minor disputes through mediation committees. Its passage reflects the government's continuing efforts to promote mediation, which, according to the Minister of Justice, is "the line of first defence" in achieving "social stability" and "harmony."

On November 19, 2010, the Chengnan Church—a government-registered church in Tinghu district, Yancheng city, Jiangsu province—was demolished, according to a November 22, 2010, report from ChinaAid (CAA). According to a November 17, 2010, CAA report, officials from the Yancheng Municipal Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau, Tinghu District Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau, Yancheng Municipal Administration Office of Major Public Construction Projects, and Tinghu District Party Discipline Inspection Commission went to the site of the church in early November and told church members that they were working on demolition projects.

Authorities Use Annual Inspection To Intimidate Lawyers

On October 25, 2010, Xinhua News Agency issued a news article (in Chinese) aiming to rebut foreign media criticism of the imprisonment of prominent Chinese intellectual and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Liu Xiaobo. Liu is a writer and democracy advocate who was sentenced to 11 years in prison in December 2009 for "inciting subversion of state power," a crime under Article 105, Paragraph 2, of the Criminal Law.

On November 24, 2010, public security officers in Beijing took legal scholar and religious freedom advocate Fan Yafeng, along with his wife and three-year-old son, into custody from his home for questioning for approximately four-and-a-half hours, according to a November 26 South China Morning Post report (subscription required).

Public security officers in Saihan district, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR), detained Mongol bookstore owner Xinna at her bookstore on December 4, 2010, in connection to the upcoming scheduled release from prison of her husband, Mongol activist Hada, according to December 4 and December 8, 2010, Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC) reports. Authorities confiscated items from the store including books and CDs and also searched a warehouse connected to the bookstore, confiscating Xinna's diary, her son's computer, business records, and other items.