For activist group, 2015 was the worst year for human rights in China
The Chinese Human Rights Defenders group releases its annual report on freedom in the mainland. The past year has seen more cases of human rights violations than the previous three. This has become a hallmark of Xi Jinping’s presidency.
Beijing (AsiaNews) – The year 2015 was marked by terrible persecution against human rights advocates, something that has become a hallmark of President Xi Jinping’s rule, already in his third year, this according to Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD).
In its latest annual report, Too Risky to Call Ourselves Defenders”: Annual Report on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders in China (2015), the group concludes that last year will go down in history as the worst for China’s human rights lawyers.
In July, police questioned more than 300 lawyers and activists and put many of them under secret detention. Of these, 22 lawyers and activists remain in custody, 19 of whom formally charged. Of the latter, all but three face faces in connection with “political” offences.
Although this has prompted alarmed reactions and criticism from inside and outside the country, Xi’s administration has pushed for draconian laws to legitimise the escalating persecution of HRDs (human rights defenders) as well as political and religious dissenters, especially in the country’s restive ethnic minority regions. These include the National Security Law passed in July and the Ninth Amendment to the Criminal Law issued in August.
The CHRD report also focuses on developments related to three basic rights necessary for anyone striving to defend and promote human rights: freedoms of association, peaceful assembly, and expression. The report also has a whole section on torture and the impunity for torturers. In the past, UN bodies slammed China for failing to clean up its act in this area.
The report provides data to back up its overall view. Compared to data available in the previous three years, the study shows that there were more cases in 2015 of HRDs detained for “political” crimes, including “subversion of state power” and “inciting subversion of state power.”
At least, 22 HRDs were detained for “inciting subversion” in 2015—matching the recorded total for the three previous years combined.
As for this year, CHRD also documented 11 cases of HRDs arrested on suspicion of “subversion” in January alone, a number surpassing the documented numbers from 2012-2014 put together.
In 2015, more than 700 HRDs were arbitrarily detained for at least five days – depriving them of their liberty of movement – in retaliation for their exercise or advocacy for human rights.
Whilst this number is smaller than the 952 cases that CHRD documented in 2014 – likely due to less access to information than in previous years – , developments point to an overall escalation of persecution against HRDs in 2015, including longer average detention times and greater severity of criminal charges.
In releasing its report, CHRD urges the Chinese government to end criminal prosecution of HRDs, release all those deprived of their freedom for advocating for human rights protection or for exercising their basic rights, terminate the practice of unreasonably prolonged pre-trial detention, repeal Article 73 of the Criminal Procedure Law allowing for “residential surveillance” in locations designated by police, and put an end to “forced disappearances”.
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