In a rare move, the German government’s cabinet adopted its biennial human rights report, in which it directly and publicly criticized China for its human rights regression, shrinking civil society, and increasing restrictions on civil rights. Some German lawmakers believe the report speaks clearly to the CCP; some scholars have suggested sanctions against Chinese and Hong Kong officials for human rights abuses and trade sanctions; and some Uyghur activists have called on Germany and the European Union to join the United States in confronting the CCP.
On Wednesday (December 2), the German federal cabinet approved its 14th human rights policy report, drafted by the German Foreign Ministry, which is highly critical of China’s human rights situation. The report notes that the negative human rights situation in China since 2012 has continued, that the already restricted space for civil society is becoming increasingly narrow, and that the rights of individual citizens, especially political rights, are increasingly restricted. Many human rights defenders have been sentenced to long prison terms for their human rights activities, including freedom of expression, press freedom, academic freedom, and religious freedom.
The report refers to the German government’s work on human rights issues in China and states that the German Federal Government is cooperating with China in the establishment of a constitutional framework under the “German-Chinese Human Rights Dialogue,” a topic raised by the German Federal Commissioner for Human Rights, Bärbel Kofler, at the 16th German-Chinese Human Rights Dialogue in September of this year.
David Missal, a young German scholar who has been focusing on human rights issues in China, said in an interview that the latest German human rights report is clear and comprehensive in its section on China, but regrettably it does not propose specific measures, and that the “German-Chinese Human Rights Dialogue” mechanism is clearly not effective in exerting pressure on the Chinese authorities for their egregious human rights practices.
The new German human rights report is very clear and correct in its analysis of the human rights situation in China, but I think the biggest problem is the lack of concrete measures. But I think the biggest problem is that they don’t talk about concrete measures, i.e., they don’t say how Germany should respond to the human rights problems in China, they only mention the Menschenrechtsdialog that has been in place for several years, which is completely inadequate.
Mudavis made concrete suggestions, such as the EU could propose to China to stop the negotiations of the China-EU trade agreement if human rights are not improved, and he also believes that sanctions should be imposed on mainland Chinese and Hong Kong officials who commit human rights violations.
Germany needs to take greater measures to sanction Chinese and Hong Kong officials, or, in the EU, to tell the Chinese Communist Party very clearly: If you persist in violating human rights, then we will also consider not discussing the China-EU investment agreement, and in the end there will be no such agreement,” Mudavis said. I think that’s a very useful way to do it, and of course to sanction Chinese officials.
This undermines and overrides the principle of “one country, two systems” and the high degree of autonomy and civil rights and freedoms that Hong Kong must guarantee by 2047.
The report also condemns the Chinese authorities’ crackdown in Xinjiang and Tibet, noting that the human rights situation there has deteriorated as a result of the Communist Party’s expanded crackdowns, surveillance, and mass detentions. In Xinjiang, in particular, Beijing has targeted the Uighurs with measures such as forced labor and forced birth control that are intended to “Sinicize” the religion and culture of minority regions. Beijing has also severely suppressed any attempts at autonomy or perceived independence by the authorities in minority regions.
Dilichati, spokesman for the Munich-based World Uyghur Council, thanked the German government for its concern about the state of Uyghur human rights in the report. He hoped that the German presidency of the Council of the European Union would go beyond mere words and take action, leading the entire EU to take strong action against the Communist Party’s systematic “genocidal” policies against Uighur and other Muslims, and to demand that the Chinese authorities immediately close down “concentration camps. “and the release of Uighurs from detention.
We are very pleased that the German government has issued a report that specifically mentions the current situation of the Uighurs, and we expect the German government to adopt a tougher policy toward China based on this report, demanding that the Chinese government immediately stop the systematic persecution of Uighurs, close the concentration camps, and release all detainees,” said Dilichati. We also expect that this report will be of great concern to the European Union and that a tougher policy towards China will be formulated in parallel.
The China section of the report also highlights the fact that the Communist Party’s leaders have pledged to “rule the country according to the rule of law” and have adopted a civil code by 2020. However, the Chinese government does not abide by the rule of law, and the judiciary is under the control of the Party, which views it as an instrument of power.
The report also cites NGO reports on organ trafficking and forced organ harvesting in China, which have been the subject of numerous allegations over the past several years, including forced organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners and Uighur detainees, which the CCP leadership has denied.
The report also cites the December 10, 2019, awarding of the Franco-German Human Rights Prize by the German and French foreign ministries to 709’s wife, Li Wenzhu, and other family members of 709 as an emblematic case of concern for human rights activists in China.
According to Michael Brand, spokesman for the Human Rights Committee of the German Federal Parliament, the report shows that Germany has also found a clear language that the authoritarian Chinese regime is a threat to international stability, and that the EU must discuss and implement further measures to curb the Chinese dictatorship in the future, together with the new U.S. president.
The German mainstream media also believe that Germany has shifted its position to emphasize the Chinese market and not to comment on the human rights situation in China. The new human rights report is explicitly critical of human rights in China.
The latest German human rights report summarizes the global human rights situation from October 2018 to September 2020, listing 28 countries with poor human rights records around the world, including North Korea, Syria, China, Turkey, Russia, and Saudi Arabia.
In the foreword to the report, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas pointed out that human rights are under pressure globally, with restrictions on freedom of expression and freedom of the press, and shrinking space for civil society. These human rights problems are exacerbated by the neo-crowning epidemic, which is being abused as a cover by repressive governments to suppress human rights defenders, silence free media, and impose repressive measures.
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