This year was marked by violent persecution of human rights campaigners and suspected dissidents, as well as systematic ethnic minorities suppression. Despite the criticism from the UN, restrictions on freedom of expression remained in place unchanged. Foreign journalists were subjected to detention and expulsion, as well as visa renewal delays and denials. Outside of China, Chinese and other tech companies blocked what the government deemed politically sensitive content, extending the government’s censorship policies overseas.
China continued to persecute human rights defenders and activists despite constitutional provisions and international commitments and obligations. Human right defenders were subjected to a pattern of harassment, intimidation, enforced disappearances, arbitrary and incommunicado detention, and lengthy prison sentences. Many human rights lawyers have been denied their right to free movement, as well as the ability to meet and represent defendants and access case materials.
Under the guise of anti-separatism, anti-extremism, and counter-terrorism, repression of ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and the Tibet Autonomous Region proceeded unrestrained. Access to and from Tibet is severely limited, especially for journalists, academics, and human rights organizations, making it impossible to examine and document the region’s human rights status.
Since 2017, an estimated one million or more Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other primarily Muslim peoples have been arbitrarily arrested without charge in Xinjiang, where they have been subjected to ideological indoctrination and forced cultural assimilation in “transformation-through-education” centers.
Due to the limitations of publicly available data and restrictions on access to the region, documenting the violations was impossible. Despite initially denying the centers’ existence, authorities eventually characterized the centers as “vocational training” centers.
China’s censorship and monitoring went beyond its boundaries. Chinese IT businesses operating outside China banned and filtered information deemed to be “politically sensitive,” such as issues pertaining to ethnic minorities, political unrest, and criticism of the Chinese government, in accordance with stringent internal censorship rules.
China’s suppression of religious and ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet, among other places, was harshly denounced by 50 independent UN human rights experts. In a joint statement, 39 UN member states expressed deep concern about the human rights situation in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and other places, asking China to give independent monitors quick, meaningful, and unrestricted access to Xinjiang.
The US applied punitive sanctions on Chinese individuals, agencies, and businesses engaged in human rights violations in those two regions, and the US Congress approved many new legislation addressing a variety of human rights issues. The European Union continued to denounce China’s poor human rights record in bilateral and international forums, including at the highest levels.
China continued to explore methods to undermine existing human rights violations by leveraging its growing political and economic weight and increased presence within the UN.
We are deeply disappointed and troubled by the human rights situation in the China. To make sure that violations of human rights in China to stop, we implore you to consider the following steps:
- Participate actively in international organizations that can help China advance its human rights. The Chinese government has undermined important international human rights organizations, including the UN Human Rights Council.
- Ensure that human rights defenders and civil society activists in China get robust and consistent assistance. Prioritize and commit to strengthening relationships with and among activists, independent authors, journalists, researchers, lawyers, and leaders of oppressed ethnic and religious minorities.
- Keep the sanctions on senior Chinese government officials in place, as well as the Entity List designations against Chinese enterprises and government entities that violate human rights.
- The Chinese government’s increasing and terrible violations should be one of the main issues of conversation with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders.
Sincerely,
Washington Center For Human Rights.