China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update - August 2006

 
 
 

Announcements

Translation: Open Letter in Support of Arrested Advocate Chen Guangcheng

In June 2006, local authorities in Linyi city, Shandong province, formally arrested Chen Guangcheng after holding him for three months without charge or trial. Since June, authorities have harassed Chen's lawyers and prevented them from carrying out their legal defense work.

The Commission has translated an Urgent Plea to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the Standing Committee of the Shandong People's Congress, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Shandong People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Supervision, and the Shandong Supervision Bureau, dated July 13, which raises these issues. For additional information, see Authorities Postpone Trial, Target Relatives and Neighbors of Chen Guangcheng and Authorities Obstruct Publicity and Legal Defense Efforts in Chen Guangcheng Case below.

 
 
 

Authorities Postpone Trial, Target Relatives and Neighbors of Chen Guangcheng

Authorities from the Yinan County People's Court have postponed Chen Guangcheng's trial indefinitely, according to a July 19 Chinese Rights Defenders (CRD) report (in Chinese). Chen Guangcheng is a self-trained legal advocate who drew international news media attention to population planning abuses in Linyi city, Shandong province in 2005. Local authorities placed Chen under house arrest in September 2005 and arrested Chen on June 21, 2006.

Authorities Try Mongol Couple, Assault Son of Imprisoned Mongol Activist

The Hohhot Intermediate People's Court tried ethnic Mongol physician Naguunbilig and his spouse Daguulaa on June 12 for crimes related to "practicing an evil cult," "printing and distributing illegal publications," "advocating idealism and superstition," and "conducting illegal business," according to a June 20 report from the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC). Authorities first arrested Naguunbilig and Daguulaa on June 7, 2005 for engaging in what officials labeled "a Mongol version of Falun Gong" and for holding "illegal gatherings." The SMHRIC reported that the court adjourned the trial on the afternoon of the 12th without issuing a decision.

Communications Ministry Orders Push to Resolve Unpaid Migrant Wage Claims

The Ministry of Communications, which oversees China's transportation sector, instructed its provincial-level departments to finish resolving migrant workers' claims for unpaid wages from work on transportation projects by the end of 2006, according to a June 28 Ministry circular posted on the central government's Web site. The Ministry circular responds to a 2004 State Council decree to resolve all migrant worker wage arrears that have resulted from unpaid debt on government projects. The deadline to conclude payment is December 2006. As of April 19, the Ministry claimed it had resolved 92 percent of the debt claims on transportation projects, a slightly higher rate than for the construction sector as a whole.

Officials Defend Appointments of Catholic Bishops Unapproved by the Holy See

Chinese government officials attempted to defend the Catholic Patriotic Association’s (CPA) recent consecrations of registered Catholic bishops, according to Chinese press accounts. In April and May, the CPA coerced bishops to consecrate new bishops who were not approved by the Holy See. The CPA is the mass organization through which the government controls the practice of Catholicism in China by registered Catholics. Responding to the controversy over these consecrations, CPA Vice Chairman Liu Bainian denied that the Chinese government had a political motivation for the consecrations, according to a June 22 interview (in Chinese) published in Wen Wei Po of Hong Kong. Liu claimed, "We have no political purpose in our self-selection and self-ordination of bishops. Among them, many such bishops are recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as well. We are very happy about it."

Riot Erupts in Guiyang After Migrant Is Beaten

Hundreds of citizens rioted in Guiyang city, Guizhou province, after a migrant worker lacking a temporary residence permit was beaten on July 10, according to a July 13 Guizhou Metropolitan Daily (GMD) article reprinted on the Xinhua Web site, and an Associated Press article posted on the Washington Post Web site based on the same GMD report.

Authorities Obstruct Publicity and Legal Defense Efforts in Chen Guangcheng Case

Human Rights Watch and Boxun both posted on July 19 timelines of events related to the Chinese government's criminal case against Chen Guangcheng. The timelines recount several weeks of continuing harassment and violence against Chinese human rights defenders, including legal scholars and advocates who have attempted to participate in Chen's criminal defense:

Qinghai-Tibet Railway Begins Operation

President Hu Jintao inaugurated passenger service to Lhasa on the Qinghai-Tibet railway in a July 1 ceremony in Golmud, Qinghai province, according to a Xinhua report dated the same day. Hu, however, did not join the approximately 600 government officials, model railway workers, and Chinese journalists who were selected to make the first trip from Golmud to Lhasa. The Chinese leader described the railway’s completion as "an important expression of the constant increase in the comprehensive national strength of our country," and of "very great significance" to accelerating regional economic and social development and "enhancing ethnic solidarity and consolidating the motherland’s frontier defense" (Xinhua, in OSC 1 July 06). Ragdi (Raidi), an ethnic Tibetan who currently serves as a Vice-Chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), described the railway during its first week of operation as the Tibetan people’s "road to heaven." He predicted that the railway would "have a profound and far-reaching historical significance," according to a July 6 Xinhua report.

Civil Servant Recruitment in Xinjiang Favors Han Chinese

The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) will hire 840 civil servants from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) through its 2006 recruitment exam, of whom 38 will be ethnic minorities and the remainder Han Chinese, according to materials posted June 26 on the XPCC's Personnel Testing Authority Web site. Ethnic minorities make up over 60 percent of the XUAR population, according to statistics cited in a 2003 Tianshan Net article. The positions available include 197 jobs with the public security police, 480 with the prison police, 37 in the court system, and 41 in the justice bureau, as well as positions at other offices within the XPCC.

NPCSC Examines Implementation of Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law

The National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) will examine the implementation of the Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law (REAL) from July to September, according to a June 24 Xinhua article posted on the State Council Information Office Web site. Four NPCSC inspection teams will visit 11 provincial-level areas, while local people's congress standing committees in nine other provincial-level areas will conduct their own inspections of the law's implementation. The article did not specify which areas the inspection teams will visit. On June 23, the inspection teams met in Beijing, where Vice Minister Mou Benli of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission (SEAC) reported on work to implement the REAL, according to a June 28 SEAC report. On July 1, an inspection team began a six-day trip to the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to examine the law's implementation there, the SEAC reported on July 6.

Proposed Criminal Law Amendment to Ban Sex-Selective Abortion Withdrawn

The National People’s Congress (NPC) withdrew a proposed amendment to the Criminal Law that would have penalized sex-selective abortions, according to a June 26 Xinhua article. Parents or medical personnel involved in a sex-selective abortion would have faced fines and up to three years in prison under the proposed amendment. Zhou Kunren, Vice Chairman of the Law Committee of the NPC Standing Committee, announced that NPC Standing Committee members as well as government officials had disagreed over the proposed amendment, according to a June 24 Xinhua article. Some officials opposed the amendment on the grounds that harsh penalties would create a black market in fetal sex determination, that the law could not change the entrenched cultural preference for male children, and that prosecution of offenders would prove difficult.

State-Run Media Highlight Human Rights Abuses and Deaths While in Police Custody

A July 7, 2006, article (in Chinese) in the Guangming Daily Observer criticized Chinese officials for shielding one another from punishment and thereby allowing the continued abuse of authority in violation of human rights. Gao Yifei, a legal scholar at Southwest University of Politics and Law, argued that the Chinese government has been too lenient in punishing officials who abuse their authority to coerce confessions under torture, acquire evidence through the use of force, or maltreat prisoners. In support of his argument, Gao highlighted several cases in which torture resulted in the deaths of Chinese citizens while in custody. State-run media reported in 2006 that courts imposed criminal sentences of varying lengths on the parties responsible for the deaths in three of those cases:

Ministry of Health Releases Measures on Reporting Infectious Disease Information

On June 2, the Ministry of Health issued Administrative Measures on the Reporting of Infectious Disease Information. The measures require that all medical organizations strengthen their systems for infectious disease diagnosis and reporting, train medical personnel in infectious disease reporting, and assist in infectious disease investigations. The measures also mandate prompt reporting of outbreaks and suspected cases of anthrax, highly contagious pneumonia, polio, human cases of avian flu, and other infectious diseases of unknown causes. Such outbreaks must be reported to county-level infectious disease prevention and control organizations and disease reporting networks within two hours of being discovered.

Confucian Group Campaigns for Government Recognition as a Religion

A Confucian group in Hong Kong is campaigning for Confucianism to be recognized on the Mainland as an authorized religion, according to a May 22 article from United Press International. Currently there are more than 1,600 Confucian temples in China, the article reported, but they have registered with the government as academic institutes. Critics of the campaign for recognition argue that placing Confucianism under China's regulatory scheme for religion would increase controls over Confucianism, the article noted.

Qinghai-Tibet Railway Raises Environmental Concerns Despite Protection Efforts

The Qinghai-Tibet railway began passenger service on July 1, increasing concerns about the railway's impact on the ecology of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, according to a July 6 Agence France-Presse (AFP) article reprinted on the Yahoo Web site. Environmentalists and the Tibetan government-in-exile are concerned that increased tourism could create demand for wild plant or animal products and contribute to waste that can contaminate rivers, according to a June 30 South China Morning Post (SCMP) article (subscription required). In addition, Tibetan advocacy groups worry that the railway, and the influx of settlers and migrants that the railway will bring, may accelerate development of the area's natural resources and increase environmental degradation, according to a September 2003 report by the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT).

Government Censors Focus on Audio-Visual Products With Historical Content

The Chinese government will increase censorship of audio-visual products relating to major historical events, according to a June 29 China Industry and Commerce Report article posted on the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) Web site and a June 15 General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) circular.

New Party Campaign on Morals Reaches Religious Communities

Ethnic and religious affairs offices from several provinces in China reported in June on local efforts by government offices and patriotic religious associations to instruct religious communities in the socialist concept of glory and shame, part of a new nationwide Party campaign on morals. Termed the "eight glories and eight shames" by PRC President Hu Jintao, the concept describes eight sets of moral guidelines for Chinese society. The guidelines include "taking ardent love for the motherland as a glory and harm of the motherland as a shame," and "taking obedience of discipline and law as a glory and the violation of them as a shame." The Party campaign, launched in March, is designed to address corruption and social disillusionment as China undergoes swift economic and social changes.

Official Discusses Economic Problems Caused by Government's Media Licensing Scheme

Liu Binjie, Deputy Director of the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) told Chinese state-run television that the exercise of freedom of the press is limited to state-licensed publishers, and that authorities are considering revisions to Chinese publishing regulations to address the economic problems caused by this policy. Liu appeared on China Central Television's "People in the News" on May 19, 2006, a transcript of which was published on CCTV's Web site on May 22. Liu answered several questions about how the government's allocation of book numbers adversely affects the development of China's publishing industry. Liu's responses included the following three points: