Thousands of Chinese Citizens Call for Ratification of ICCPR Before Olympics

May 5, 2008

More than 14,000 Chinese citizens signed an open letter released to the public on January 1, 2008, urging the Chinese government to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) before the 2008 Olympics "without reservations," according to a January 1 Radio Free Asia (RFA) article (in Chinese).

More than 14,000 Chinese citizens signed an open letter released to the public on January 1, 2008, urging the Chinese government to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) before the 2008 Olympics "without reservations," according to a January 1 Radio Free Asia (RFA) article (in Chinese). The letter (posted on the China Human Rights Forum Web site) also called on China to undertake a number of domestic reforms to bring the country in line with the ICCPR, including the revocation of regulations restricting religious freedom and abolishment of the requirement that social organizations must first register with the government to be considered legal. RFA reported that signers of the letter included professors, lawyers, workers, farmers, and government officials. On January 10, Southern Weekend, a progressive weekly based in Guangdong province, published an article that appeared to report on the same campaign, saying that "on the first day of 2008, a number of legal scholars" recommended that China ratify the ICCPR prior to the Olympics. The Southern Weekend article cited the same organizer quoted in the RFA report, but did not mention that more than 14,000 citizens had signed the letter. As detailed in the Southern Weekend article, China signed the ICCPR in 1998, but has yet to ratify it despite statements from top officials in recent years indicating that they are preparing for ratification. China is a member of the UN Human Rights Council. Reuters issued a report (via The Guardian) about the letter on January 31.