Human Rights Watch, one of the leading international human rights organizations, released its “World Human Rights Report 2021” on Wednesday (Jan. 13), examining global human rights practices and trends and current developments in more than 100 countries. The report criticizes China for being in its darkest period in terms of human rights since the bloody crackdown on the Tiananmen student democracy movement in 1989.
More Countries Dare to Criticize China
Speaking at the launch of the human rights report, Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said that in 2020, more countries are overcoming their traditional fear of economic retaliation against China and speaking out against its worsening human rights persecution.
The expanding government coalition on human rights in China has overcome their traditional fear of economic retaliation in China to speak out against China’s increasing human rights persecution, which is undoubtedly the worst since the brutal suppression of the Tiananmen democracy movement in 1989,” Roth said. Evidence of the growing global discontent with China’s human rights situation can be seen in China’s candidacy for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council. four years ago, China received the highest number of votes from Asia-Pacific countries, while this year it received the fewest votes.”
Ross believes that more countries willing to condemn China’s persecution is the best way to reduce China’s brutal repression. Biden can contribute to this trend and take a more principled, coherent, and multifaceted approach, joining rather than acting unilaterally, to address China’s brutality.
However, Human Rights Watch has been critical of the EU’s response to human rights in China, particularly the investment agreement with China late last year. Ross said that if the EU is serious about ending forced labor in Xinjiang, they should insist on addressing the issue before agreeing to an investment agreement.
Authoritarianism comes to the fore in the epidemic
The World Human Rights Report 2021 is the 31st annual report published by Human Rights Watch. The 386-page report focuses heavily on the deteriorating human rights situation in China.
In its introduction on the human rights situation in China, the report states that the Chinese government’s authoritarianism was on full display in the 2020 outbreak of a new coronavirus epidemic that originated in Wuhan. The authorities initially tried to cover up reports of the outbreak and then imposed a severe city closure in Wuhan and other parts of China. The Chinese government has refused international calls for an independent, unfettered investigation into its handling of the outbreak and has monitored and harassed the families of those who have lost their lives to the virus.
The report said that the silencing of human rights defenders, journalists and human rights advocates and restrictions on online expression have also made it difficult for outsiders to obtain accurate information about Chinese government policy and administration.
However, despite such threats, a few prominent figures have openly criticized President Xi Jinping. Entrepreneur Ren Zhiqiang wrote that Xi is “a clown who insists on being an emperor even when stripped naked,” while former CPC Central Party School professor Cai Xia said the Communist Party has become a “political zombie.
In June, an unprecedented joint statement on China by 50 UN special procedures mandate holders urgently called for “continued attention to the human rights situation in the country,” including the convening of a special session of the UN Human Rights Council and the establishment of an additional international human rights treaty body, the report noted. In July, the U.S. government imposed sanctions on senior Chinese officials responsible for atrocities against Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.
Speaking at a press conference on the China section of the human rights report, Sophie Richardson, director of Human Rights Watch’s China division, said China’s regression on human rights over the past year has been alarming.
The human rights situation in China over the past year has been appalling,” she said. We have devoted more attention to the persecution of Uighurs in Xinjiang and Tibetans. We particularly highlight the extraordinary crackdown on human rights in Hong Kong, where we have seen a huge deterioration in human rights. Since we completed our China section of the report six weeks ago, we have been concerned about the persecution and abuse of human rights defenders throughout China, especially at a time when countries need more and better, independently accessible and shared information about the New Coronavirus. The crackdown on whistle blowers and citizen journalists highlights to the world the consequences of human rights persecution in China.”
Human Rights Persecution in Hong Kong Tops the List
The latest World Human Rights Report ranks Hong Kong at the top of China’s human rights deterioration. In Hong Kong, the report says, after six months of massive protests in 2019, the Chinese government’s implementation of a draconian “national security law” on June 30 was the most violent attack on the freedom of Hong Kong people since the transfer of sovereignty in 1997. The international community needs to continue to publicly condemn Hong Kong for denying the people of Hong Kong their fundamental rights.
HRW China Director Sophie Richardson added that HRW has a series of recommendations for governments to address the persecution of human rights in Hong Kong.
She said, “It is time for governments to impose targeted individual sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials responsible for the situation in Hong Kong. States need to remember that international human rights law is in force in Hong Kong because it is part of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Also, support and asylum for Hong Kong people fleeing persecution needs to be improved. At the same time, with the agreements we have seen with China, it is important that these agreements have enforceable guarantees of human rights in black and white. Beijing clearly has no intention of keeping the promises it has made in the past. Accepting some unclear future promises from China is an insult to Hong Kong, Xinjiang and all those in China who have fought for access to human rights.”
The report criticizes the Hong Kong Legislative Council, which is controlled by pro-China lawmakers, for abusing the process by expelling pro-democracy lawmakers from the chamber and passing a law in June that criminally punishes “disrespect” of the Chinese flag.
The report also criticized the Hong Kong police for arresting a large number of pro-democracy activists throughout the year, including pro-democracy media mogul Lai Chi-ying, former legislators Lee Cheuk-yan and Yeung Sum, and 81-year-old barrister Lee Chu-ming.
The report condemns the Chinese government for bypassing the Hong Kong Legislative Council last June to impose the “Hong Kong version of the National Security Law,” denying Hong Kong people the right to a fair trial, giving the police more sweeping powers, tightening control over civil society and the media, and weakening judicial oversight.
The Hong Kong authorities used the “Hong Kong version of the National Security Law” to outlaw the 2019 protest slogan “Restoration of Hong Kong, Revolution of the Times”, arresting student activists, Apple Daily owner Lai Chi-ying, his father and son, and several senior executives, and disqualifying 12 pro-democracy activists from participating in the Legislative Council election scheduled for September.
The report also criticized the continued deterioration of press freedom in Hong Kong, noting that the public media, Radio Television Hong Kong, was forced to stop broadcasting its popular political satire program “Headliner” in June due to political pressure. In July and August, New York Times reporter Chris Buckley and Aaron Mc Nicholas, the new editor of the Hong Kong Free Press, were denied visas to take up their posts in Hong Kong.
Persecution of Muslims Continues
The report again cites Xinjiang as a major area of human rights deterioration in China, criticizing the Chinese government’s continued efforts to eliminate the distinctive identities of Uighurs and other Muslims of Turkic origin in Xinjiang.
In Xinjiang, large numbers of minority Muslims continue to be arbitrarily detained on the basis of their identity, while other residents are subjected to forced labor, mass surveillance, and political indoctrination. In Inner Mongolia, education authorities promoted the replacement of the Mongolian language with Chinese in many school classrooms, sparking popular protests in September.
In January, CNN investigative reports found more than 100 traditional Uighur cemeteries had been demolished based on satellite photos, the report said, and in August, Buzzfeed, also based on satellite photos, found that Xinjiang authorities had built more than 260 “mega” detention facilities since 2017.
The report said that while Chinese authorities appear to have closed some of the “political education camps” and “released” prisoners following global public outrage, an unknown number of Muslims are still being detained or serving prison sentences purely on the basis of their identity. More than five years after the Chinese government launched its “crackdown,” a large number of Uighur exiles are still without any information about the whereabouts of their relatives.
In February, an Australian think tank said that 82 Chinese factories of global brands were employing Xinjiang workers under “extremely obvious” conditions. The conditions under which the laborers were employed by 82 Chinese OEMs of global brands were “extremely clear” to involve forced labor.
Human rights continue to deteriorate in other areas
The report also criticized the Communist authorities for continuing to severely restrict freedom of religion, expression, movement and assembly in Tibetan areas, and for not addressing the mining and land-grabbing practices of local officials that have sparked popular discontent, but instead resorting to intimidation and security crackdowns.
The report said the Chinese government was initially slow to respond to the new coronavirus outbreak, prohibiting the release of information, underreporting infections, downplaying the severity of the infection, and denying the possibility of human-to-human transmission. Authorities also detained people for “spreading rumors,” banned online talk of the outbreak, and prevented media coverage.
Lawyer and citizen journalist Chen Qiushi, businessman Fang Bin, rights activist Zhang Zhan and other independent reporters on the Wuhan outbreak, as well as Chen Mei and Cai Wei and their girlfriends from the DuanDotStar website, which collected and saved officially deleted news reports, interviews and personal accounts of the outbreak online, were all detained by authorities.
Beijing initially rejected calls for an international investigation into the origins of the virus and retaliated against Australia, which had initiated the call, by severely cutting imports of many goods and services, including beef. It was only after a World health Organization (WHO) resolution supporting an independent investigation was endorsed by more than 120 countries that Beijing allowed the WHO team to visit in August, but the visit did not include Wuhan.
The report also criticizes the Chinese authorities for their continued crackdown on human rights defender groups and for increasingly targeting the families of human rights defenders. The report cites several examples of human rights persecution, including the December 2019 “Xiamen Gathering Case,” in which several people who attended the gathering were arrested and human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi was still charged with “inciting subversion” and prominent legal rights activist Xu Zhiyong was charged with He is still being held on charges of “subversion of state power”. Xu Zhiyong’s girlfriend Li Qiaochu was also held in secret detention for four months in February. In addition, a Sichuan court sentenced Christian pastor Wang Yi to nine years in prison for “inciting subversion.
Three months after artist and rights activist Wang Zang was forcibly disappeared by Yunnan authorities in March, his wife, Wang Liqin, was also disappeared after she tweeted for Wang’s release, leaving their four young children without parental care. Both were later charged with “incitement to subversion.
In June, a court in Jiangsu sentenced Beijing human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng, who had been detained since January 2018, to four years in prison for “inciting subversion.
In September, Beijing arrested publisher and producer Geng Xiaonan and his husband Qin Zhen on charges of “illegal business operation. Geng Xiaonan, a longtime supporter of independent scholars and human rights activists, was the first to stand in solidarity with his friend Xu Zhongrun, a prominent law professor. Xu was detained for six days in July for posting an article critical of President Xi Jinping.
The report criticizes the continued deterioration of freedom of expression in China. Authorities arrested and charged several Internet users for “provoking trouble” for “spreading rumors” and “insulting the country’s leaders,” among other things, for criticizing the government in online posts or private messages. The Chinese government continues to crack down on Chinese users of Twitter, expanding online censorship to remove content that does not conform to “core socialist values.
On the issue of religious freedom, in 2020 the Chinese government continued to promote measures to “Sinicize” religion in order to ensure the Communist Party’s domination of the spiritual life of the people and to suppress house churches, their pastors and believers. In addition, authorities have removed Arabic script from mosques and halal restaurants across the country and renovated mosques and religious landmarks across the country to make them more “Chinese” in appearance.
Mass Surveillance of the Population
The report also criticizes the authorities for conducting mass surveillance of the population. To combat the new pneumonia epidemic, a mobile App called “Health Code” was developed by giant Chinese technology companies. The app uses an unknown algorithm that automatically generates three colors (green, yellow and red) based on a variety of factors, including whether the user has been to an infected area. The difference in color affects all aspects of the user’s daily life, including freedom of movement, as government authorities across the country require visiting people to show the app.
In May, the Citizen Lab, a Canadian research organization, found that Chinese social media outlet WeChat was monitoring users outside of China.
In a press conference, HRW China Director Sophie Richardson said she wanted to draw attention to the massive surveillance by the Chinese government and the damage it does to human rights.
Wang Songlian, a senior researcher at HRW China, said the organization has recently uncovered more evidence of mass surveillance of Uighurs in Xinjiang by Communist authorities, particularly the December disclosure of an “Aksu List” of more than 2,000 Uighurs, and has delved into the relationship between a surveillance platform in Xinjiang and those in “re-education camps” to further illustrate how local Muslims are being monitored by big data.
In December, Human Rights Watch published a list of detainees called the ‘Aksu List,’ which detailed the reasons why more than 2,000 people were detained,” Wang said. All detainees were alerted to an ‘integrated platform.”
Human Rights Watch said last December that the document, titled “List of People Trained by the Integration Platform,” was obtained from an anonymous Xinjiang source in late 2018 and included the names, genders, dates of intake, reasons for intake, batch numbers of those screened out by the integration platform, and more.
By carefully examining the various reasons for religious affiliation in the “Aksu List,” Human Rights Watch found additional religious and daily activities that authorities considered suspicious, including reciting the Quran, wearing religious clothing, participating in tj without official permission, using wall-scraping software and file transfer tools, visiting “sensitive” countries such as Turkey and Afghanistan, and more. “sensitive” countries, etc. It is worth noting that there are also a number of incidents that authorities consider suspicious behavior that sound very general, including “complicated social relations” and “unstable thinking,” among others.
In addition, the China section of the human rights report addresses human rights issues in the areas of women’s and girls’ rights, sexual orientation and gender identity, refugees and asylum, international response, and foreign policy.
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