China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update - No. 1 - January 30, 2009
Introduction
As global economic crisis unfolds around the world, its full impact inside China remains unclear. However, as the articles in this newsletter illustrate, the Chinese government appears to be focusing its attention on perceived sources of "instability" across a diverse cross-section of Chinese society. Leading intellectuals, lawyers, writers, farmers, workers, and others who have signed Charter 08, face harassment, detention and other abuses. So do China’s Tibetan and Uyghur citizens, religious adherents, and others who have engaged in peaceful political dissent.
The Chinese government’s efforts to control information and its instrumental use of law, which this Commission documented in its 2007 and 2008 Annual Reports, continues. In January, the Chinese government’s efforts to control information included official censorship of portions of President Obama's inaugural address. As this newsletter also shows, the Chinese government continues to invoke criminal law as a tool for punishing peaceful dissent, for punishing spiritual or religious adherents practicing outside state-sanctioned boundaries, and for bolstering security controls in ethnic minority regions. At the same time, many Chinese citizens nonetheless accept the risks of civic activism--and suffer consequences including harassment and detention. On February 9, the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva will review China's human rights record under a new mechanism known as the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). In the months ahead, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China will continue to monitor and report on the Chinese government’s record with respect to its international commitments to safeguard fundamental rights and to develop the rule of law.