Civil Society

Officials from the domestic security unit of the Beijing Public Security Bureau and local taxation bureau authorities entered the offices of the NGO Beijing Aizhixing on Wednesday, December 22, 2010, and took with them "three large suitcases full of documents" as part of an inspection into the organization's compliance with tax regulations, according to a December 22 Radio Free Asia (RFA) article. Authorities took materials with financial and project information, some dating back to 2002, including funding agreements (with attachments, and financial and donor work reports), account books and vouchers, financial and audit reports, documents related to Aizhixing's property and taxes, and bank statements.

China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) issued the Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Issues Concerning the Administration of Foreign Exchange Donated to or by Domestic Institutions on December 25, 2009, which took effect on March 1, 2010. Despite SAFE's assertion that the new rules are aimed at "facilitating the receipt and payment of donations in foreign exchange," some groups, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), say that the new rules instead have made it nearly impossible to access their funds, placing some of them in difficult financial straits.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs (MOCA) and the southern city of Shenzhen signed the Cooperation Agreement on Pushing Forward With Integrated Reforms to Civil Affairs Undertakings (Agreement) in July 2009, which promises to advance reforms to civil affairs. The Agreement calls for Shenzhen to "take the lead in experimenting with some of MOCA's major reform projects and measures." Please visit CECC’s Virtual Academy for a full English translation of the Agreement.

Shenzhen, located immediately north of Hong Kong in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong province, was one of the first localities to be designated as a "special economic zone" by Deng Xiaoping in 1980. It is mainland China's richest city based on per capita GDP, according to an August 2008 China Daily report.

Expanding on a circular issued in 2008, the central government in July issued "working guidelines" for social organizations (shehui tuanti) seeking eligibility to receive tax-deductible donations. According to a report from United States International Grantmaking, social organizations are "one of the three primary forms" of NGOs in China. The other two primary types of NGOs in China are foundations (jijinhui) and private non-enterprise organizations (minban fei qiye danwei). The Working Guidelines issued in July further clarify the standards for determining the eligibility of social organizations for tax-deductible donations. At the same time, they continue to limit the number of eligible social organizations. The working guidelines also do not alter existing regulations requiring all NGOs to register with the government.

On April 16, 2009, the Heyuan Intermediate People's Court in Guangdong province sentenced Shenzhen rights defense lawyer Liu Yao to 18 months in prison, suspended for 2 years, in the second appeal and final hearing in his case, in connection with his representation of villagers from his hometown in Dongyuan county, Heyuan municipality, whose land was reportedly illegally seized for the purpose of building a new hydroelectric station, according to a Radio Free Asia (RFA) article and a Human Rights in China (HRIC) report, both dated April 17.

China's Employment Promotion Law (EPL) took effect on January 1, 2008. Provisions in the law prohibit discrimination based on factors including gender (Art. 27), ethnicity (Art. 28), disability (Art. 29), whether or not the job candidate is a carrier of an infectious disease (Art. 30), and whether or not the job candidate is a migrant worker (Art. 31). Article 62 of the law permits workers to initiate lawsuits in cases of alleged discrimination.