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July 09 http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/07/02/china16329.htm
HRW: Beijing's Rule of Law Retreat
Published in The Wall Street Journal
By Nicholas Bequelin
The recent discovery of hundreds of slave laborers working in feudal conditions
in brick kilns prompted a national outcry in China -- and an unusually forceful
reaction from the central government. The Communist Party immediately
dispatched tens of thousands of police to break up the ring, arrested hundreds,
and inspired strongly worded editorials in such state organs as the People's
Daily denouncing local officials' lapses. President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen
Jiabao also weighed in, giving highly publicized orders to launch a "nationwide
campaign" to eradicate slave labor.
But this campaign mostly misses the point. Chinese officials and editorial
writers may rail about local corruption and the evils of forced labor, but the
root of the problem is something they are unlikely to do anything about: a
woefully inadequate legal system that lacks true independence from the
government, cannot address citizen concerns and exacerbates rather than
alleviates local corruption.
Over the past two decades, China's Communist Party has progressively embraced
the rule of law as its principal method to rule the country. Importing entire
chunks of Western-style legal institutions, the party established a modern
court system, enacted thousands of laws and regulations, and formed hundreds of
law schools to train legal professionals. It publicized through constant
propaganda campaigns the idea that common citizens have basic rights, and
elevated the concept of the "rule of law" to constitutional prominence in the
mid-1990s.
In a one-party system hostile to carrying out the slightest political reforms
-- and in the absence of other checks on power such as a free press or an
independent civil society -- this formidable legal effort was meant to provide
some stability and predictability to a rapidly modernizing society, as well as
to impart legitimacy to the ruling order.
Yet huge numbers of Chinese citizens are still unable to use the system to seek
justice. Predatory officials rob farmers of their land, forcibly evict
residents from their homes, and cover up extravagant abuses of power --
typically embezzlement, but also rape and murder. These officials close their
eyes to labor exploitation and condone or profit from criminal rackets, human
trafficking and illegal mining. There is even a term in Chinese for local
officials' collusion with criminal gangs: "black umbrellas," which refers to
officials who give protection to illegal activities in exchange for bribes.
With no avenues to seek redress, China's citizens are abused and exploited on a
shocking scale. The problems are not confined to small towns or rural areas:
Recent prominent corruption cases include the police chief of Shenyang in
Liaoning province, the party secretary of Shanghai and the head of the national
food and drug administration.
The critical obstacle to reform remains the judicial system's enslavement by
the party. At every level, China's key legal institutions -- the police and the
courts -- are under the authority of the party's political and legal
committees. Through these institutions, local power holders can easily instruct
the police to abandon investigations, foreclose legal challenges, dictate the
outcome of particular cases to judges, or frame protesters and activists on
vague charges of threatening state security and social stability. Granted, when
the party's interests and justice align, China's courts function reasonably
well. But the overwhelming powers of party officials over the judiciary are an
open invitation to abuse them.
The growing "mafia-ization" of local governments and spiraling social unrest
attest to the urgent need for a functioning legal system. Reports of riots and
other episodes of disorder are increasingly frequent. Last month, no less than
eight riots and large-scale demonstrations were reported in different parts of
the country, arising from issues as diverse as Guangxi's family planning
policies, the construction of a Xiamen chemical factory, the beating of a
Chongqing street hawker, impunity for a police-connected murderer in Sichuan,
and even a protest by retired Guangzhou soldiers for their pensions. The
government's recent claim that social unrest was on the decline now has to be
called into question.
Unfortunately, there are no signs that Beijing intends to empower the legal
system to operate in an effective and independent manner. In fact under
President Hu, the party has abandoned its rule-of-law rhetoric to talk more
about a "socialist" rule of law -- implying that the party, not the law itself,
remains supreme.
Top law officials like Luo Gan, head of the Political and Legal Committee of
the Central Committee, have recently issued an order to purge the legal system
of "negative Western legal concepts," including fundamentals such as judicial
independence. But nowhere is the authorities' attitude towards an autonomous
legal system clearer than in the wave of repression it has unleashed since last
year on China's nascent civil-rights movement, sentencing for subversion the
country's top human-rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, jailing countless rights
activists, using house arrest to silence many critics, and tightening control
over the legal profession.
The brick kiln case is emblematic of these wider problems. Legal reforms take
time, and it would be unreasonable to expect China's courts to solve every
social ill faced by such a large, developing country. But it is a mistake to
think that the Chinese legal system can heal itself while the party refuses to
relinquish any power.
It's an even greater mistake to think that China can remain stable if it denies
access to justice to its citizens, and continues to hide from the cleansing
sunlight of a free press. Until it does, social unrest, slave labor and the
shadow of black umbrellas will continue to grow.
---
Mr. Bequelin is a researcher at the Asia division of Human Rights Watch in Hong
Kong.
http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/84556/
TAKE ACTION! POST A BANNER FOR
HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA
As part of its "Beijing 2008" campaign, Reporters Without Borders
(Reporters sans frontières, RSF) is calling on media and Internet
communities everywhere to print ads or post website banners of the
Olympic rings made up of handcuffs - to draw attention to China's lax
attitude to human rights in the face of hosting the 2008 Olympics.
Human Rights Watch is also spearheading a similar campaign calling
for users to "Light a Torch for Human Rights in China" by posting a
banner with said phrase on their websites.
With just over a year to go before the start of the Beijing Summer
Olympics, the Chinese authorities have not kept their promises to
improve the human rights situation, which they made in 2001 when
awarded the Games, says RSF.
Both campaigns demand that the Chinese government release the 100
journalists and cyber-dissidents currently in jail, including Shi Tao,
who is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence after sending an
email about Chinese media restrictions on the Tiananmen Square
massacre. They also urge Beijing and the International Olympics
Committee to allow international human rights groups into China to
monitor conditions during the Games.
In a letter to International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the eve of
one of its meetings, RSF says, "It is not too late to get the Chinese
organisers, who are for the most part also senior political officials,
to release prisoners of conscience, reform repressive laws and end
censorship... We expect firm action from you."
The RSF banner graphic is available in different languages, sizes and
definitions here: http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=111&id_mot=888
Access the Human Rights Watch banner here: http://hrw.org/campaigns/china/b
eijing08/torch.htm June 12 http://www.canadafreepress.com/2007/cover060807.htm
China works against practitioners of Falun Gong through North American news media
By Judi McLeod
Friday, June 8, 2007
The Peoples' Republic of China,
whose tainted food exports continue to plague North America, has for a
long time been polluting peoples' minds with propaganda.
China's message is delivered in daily newspapers overseas. And the
message deliberately targets groups maligned by the Communist
government.
The message is served up on a daily basis in a town close to you.
"In Canada, the Toronto-based Chinese Canadian Post is distributed
with an insert of the People's Daily, the official mouthpiece of the
Chinese Communist party, which is larger than the newspaper itself. The
paper's publisher, David Lim, is known in the Toronto Chinese community for his ties to the consulate." (The Epoch Times, June 7, 2007).
Shamefully, the publication receives advertising from the ultra
politically correct Ontario government and the City of Toronto, both
corporations kept afloat by taxpayers.
Taxpayers, whose dollars pay for the advertising, likely do not
know that their money goes to support a regime with one of the worst human rights records in history.
The Toronto edition of the Ming Pao newspaper, one of the largest newspapers read mainly by Hong Kong Chinese in Canada, also prints content from a Mainland Chinese newspaper.
"Ming Pao Canada CEO Ka-Ming Lui wouldn't describe in detail his newspaper's arrangement with Guangzhou
Daily. He denied that Ming Pao was paid to publish the content, but he
also admitted Ming Pao was not paying for it. (The Epoch Times).
"He also said his newspaper has a clear policy not to publish Falun
Gong advertisements. 'This (policy) has been in place for many
years--it's no secret.' Lui said Ming Pao papers across North America
follow the same policy."
The "policy" is one that allows discrimination against a
minority--the practitioners of Falun Gong--and if any other government
imposed such a policy public outrage would be the result.
New Tang Dynasty Television, which reports regularly about the
persecution of Falun Gong in China ran up against this policy when it
tried to place an ad for its international classical dance competition
to be held later this month.
Ming Pao said at least three other Toronto Chinese-language newspapers refused to print the paid advertisement.
Surely it is a travesty that no Chinese-language newspaper, aside
from the Chinese edition of the brave Epoch Times, would print the ad
in Ottawa.
That's Ottawa, the nation's capitol and home of the Conservative
Canadian minority government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper!
The information on the status of Chinese controlled newspapers
comes from Chen Yonglin, who made a high-profile defection from the
Chinese consulate in Sydney, Australia two years ago.
In an era where the politically correct mainstream media follows
the path of least resistance, The Epoch Times conducted an in-depth
interview with Chen and publicized never-before-released documents to
substantiate his charges. The documents show how China is following a
course to "discredit" and "intimidate" five specific target groups:
Tibetan exiles, Taiwanese, Uighur Muslims, democracy activists--and
most of all Falun gong practitioners.
The strategy of this ongoing campaign is an attempt to control
Chinese-language media overseas, and through student and community
groups acting as front organizations. Chen, whose conscience forbade
him from doing the work, which he says came complete with spying on
Australians in five groups and interfering in their activities, raised
the alarm.
Chen served as the first secretary of the consulate in Sydney and
oversaw the consulate's political department, which was in charge of
combating the five groups.
As head of the political arm, he was a member of the Special
Anti-Falun Gong Working Group, which included the head of each
department at the Sydney consulate and the Consul general.
This sort of set up is not peculiar to Australia. According to
Chen, the same type of group in is action in Chinese missions
worldwide.
Minutes of one of the Working Group's meeting obtained by The Epoch
Times, dated February 7, 2001, were signed off by both the consul
general and deputy consul general of the consulate and included reports
of 22 anti-Falun Gong activities.
Among them is an entry about a Chinese-language newspaper that was reprimanded for publishing a Falun Gong advertisement.
Meanwhile, not even a distance marked by thousands of miles can
keep the practitioners of Falun Gong safe from the Peoples' Republic of
China.
Laura-Julie Perreault
Journalists in the Chinese community payed by Beijing, businessmen who are transformed into informants, scientists temporarily repatriated in order to share what they learn abroad: China has a network of spies in Canada affirms an ex-diplomat.
A refugee in Australia since he turned his back on on the Chinese Communist Party in 2005, Chen Yonglin made a stop yesterday in Montreal. The 39 year old man, who said that he abandoned the diplomacy because he was required to spy on Falun Gong members while on post in Sydney, feels he has a mission. “I want the world to know the Chinese Communist Party better, what they do in China, but also how they intervene abroad”, affirms the now secretary of the Australian Association of Chinese Dissidents.
According to Mr. Chen, there are more than 1000 Chinese spies in Canada. “They are not all spies in the Western sense of the term. They are more informants than traditional spies” explained the ex-diplomat at a meeting which took place in the basement of the Chinatown Holiday Inn.
His accounts echo the speech given last month by the head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Jim Judd. The latter affirmed that the Canadian secret police spends over half of its counter-espionage resources to thwart the activities of Chinese spies who are particularly interested in Canadian industrial and military secrets.
Chen Yonglin confirms the suspicions of CSIS. “Because of its size, its resources and because it is the back door to the United States, Canada is strategically the second priority for China, on equal footing with Australia. If China cannot get its hands on American technologies because they are well protected, they can do it by setting up Canadian companies,” he affirms.
However , according to Mr. Chen, Beijing's network of informants is still most interested in members of the Chinese diaspora, particularly in practitioners of Falun Gong, a religious group which appeared in the 90's as is in an open war with the Chinese Communist regime. “It's really the number 1 enemy of the Communist Party”, reveals the former diplomat.
The regime requires its informants to supply the most information possible on the activities of Falun Gong and its members. In his files, Chen Yonglin still has photos of Falun Gong activities taken by his ex-colleagues at the embassy. The identified persons are then filed in a database. “If they want to go to China, either we refuse them a visa, or we let them come in order to interrogate them as soon as they set foot in the airport”, said Chen. In exchange for their services, the collaborators sometimes receive renumeration, sometimes preferential treatment in the area of commercial exchange, he added.
This man who hid for a year with his wife and his his daughter after having defected is now traveling the world to testify to his experience in Chinese diplomacy between 1991 and 2005. He recently appeared before the United States House of Representatives and before the European Parliament.
In Canada, he was invited by the Toronto China Research Association. Members of Falun Gong also collaborated in the organization of his visit.
UN Reports the Chilling Facts on Organ Harvesting from Live Falun Gong Practitioners
By Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group,
Monday, June 11, 2007
On March 20, 2007, Manfred Nowak, the United Nations
Special Rapporteur on Torture issued a report that corroborates
previous findings in 2006 about persecution, abuse and torture of
Chinese citizens.
His report states, "Organ harvesting has been inflicted on a large
number of unwilling Falun Gong practitioners at a wide variety of
locations for the purpose of making available organs for transplant
operations." Mr. Nowak issued his report to the Human Rights Council's Fourth session, as part of their Agenda item 2, the Implementation of General Assembly Resolution 60/251.
 On
August 11, 2006, three UN Special Rapporteurs had sent an urgent appeal
on organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners. This was a joint
action by the Special Rapporteur on Torture, Mr. Manfred Nowak, the
Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Ms. Asma Jahangir
and the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, Ms. Sigma Huda.
Mr. Nowak further states in his report, "Vital organs including
hearts, kidneys, livers and corneas were systematically harvested from
Falun Gong practitioners at Sujiatan Hospital, Shenyang,
Liaoning Province, beginning in 2001. The practitioners were given
injections to induce heart failure, and therefore were killed in the
course of the organ harvesting operations or immediately thereafter."
The report adds, "It is reported that employees of several
transplant centres have indicated that they have used organs from live
Falun Gong practitioners for transplants. After the organs were
removed, the bodies were cremated, and no corpse is left to examine for
identification as the source of an organ transplant. Once the organs
were removed they were shipped to transplant centres to be used for
transplants for both domestic and foreign patients."
Although the Chinese government denied the allegations, the Report states that China's
passage of a law on July 1, 2006, prohibiting the sale of organs and
requiring the donor to give written permission, indicates that China
allowed organ harvesting before that time.
 "Moreover,
evidence exists, for example, that at least up until April 2006, price
lists for organ transplants in China were published on the Internet,"
states the report.
The Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Ms. Asma
Jahangir, also addressed the harvesting of organs from Falun Gong
practitioners in her annual report on 250 countries. Regarding freedom
of religion or belief, her report states, "The Special Rapporteur
continues to be very concerned by the continued violations of freedom
of religion or belief suffered by members of the Falun Gong. In her
previous reports to the Commission on Human Rights, she explicitly
mentioned members of the Falun Gong as targets of various human rights
violations because of their beliefs and she strongly condemns the
continued lack of freedom of belief of members of Falun Gong."
The Silence about Organ Harvesting
The Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group initially described the organ harvesting issue in its newsletter, Sujiatun Death Camp: Putting Conscience On Trial". The news was met with silence.
On July 7, 2006, former Canadian Secretary of State (Asia Pacific)
and MP David Kilgour and human rights attorney David Matas released
their "Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong
Practitioners in China." Presenting 17 points of evidence on the
harvesting of organs from live Falun Gong practitioners, they stated,
"The allegations, if true, would represent a grotesque form of evil
which, despite all the depravations humanity has seen, would be new to
this planet. The very horror makes us reel back in disbelief. But that
disbelief does not mean that the allegations are untrue." Kilgour and
Matas have traveled the world discussing their findings with
organizations and nations, but, as yet, no country and no major media
have condemned this heinous practice.
Dr. Shizhong Chen, founder of The Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group (www.falunhr.org),
when asked about the importance of the UN Report, observed, "David
Matas condemned the organ harvesting as a new kind of evil that
humanity has yet to see. Sadly, we have also seen a new kind of silence
to this evil, silence from world governments and from the media.
"This report by the Special Rapporteur removes any excuse of
silence, of not knowing, not trusting and not believing the appeals of
Falun Gong practitioners whose lives are supplying China's burgeoning
transplant market. It also belies the US State Department report that
they found 'no evidence' of organ harvesting after Chinese officials
organized two guided tours for their benefit."
Many Cases of Persecution and Torture in China
The Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group has submitted many appeals
to the United Nations Special Rapporteurs and has often spoken to the
UN Human Rights Council. In his 2005 Report on his mission to China,
Nowak observed, in Table 1, that 66% of all alleged victims of torture
were Falun Gong practitioners. In 2006, Mr. Nowak sent many urgent
appeals to the government of China concerning Falun Gong practitioners
and other Chinese citizens who were abused and tortured.
Mr. Nowak cited the persecution of many Chinese citizens in his report, among others, human rights lawyer, Mr. Gao Zhisheng.
The Persecution of Chinese Lawyer Gao Zhisheng
Mr. Gao Zhisheng has represented dissidents,
religious believers, entire villages with disputes against officials,
and Falun Gong practitioners. When he did his own personal
investigation and found evidence of ongoing torture of Falun Gong
practitioners, he wrote an open letter asking CCP leaders Hu Jintao
and Wen Jiabao to stop the persecution of Falun Gong. As a result, the
CCP started persecuting him. In November 2005, Mr. Gao met with Mr.
Manfred Nowak, who at that time was in China investigating the use of
"torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."
On December 2, 2005, 12 days after Mr. Nowak met with him, the
Justice Bureau closed Mr. Gao's Shenghzhi Law Firm. Mr. Nowak "strongly
protested to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs against the intimidation
and surveillance by the security services that Mr. Gao was subjected to
during their meeting in Beijing on November 20, 2005," and detailed the
persecution suffered by Mr. Gao's wife, Ms. Geng He, their children of
13 and 2 years of age and his 70 year old mother-in-law. One time, two
police officers beat Ms. Geng, ripped her clothing and tore off one of
her fingernails. They followed Gao's daughter Gege at all times,
including when she was in school and when she went to the bathroom.
They even attempted to kidnap Gao's two-year-old son.
Other victims mentioned in the report include Ms. Mao Hengfeng whom
Nowak interviewed on November 24, 2005, during his mission to China;
Sun Xicheng, He Guoguang, Zhou Xiudi, Chen Zonglai, Wu Yuping, Jin
Huijun, Mao Hengfeng, Chen Guancheng, Xu Zhiyong, lawyers Li Fangping
and Li Subinhad, Ismail Semed, an ethnic Uighur from Xinjiang Uighur
Autonomous Region (XUAR),), Mr. Chen Xiaoming, Ms. Fu Yuxia, and Mr.
Han Zhongming, Ms. Ma Yalian, Yusuf Kadir Tohti and Abdukadir Sidik,
Mr. Xu Shuangfu (also known as Xu Wenku) and Mr. Li Maoxing, Bu Dongwei
(also known as David Bu), He Depu, whom the Special Rapporteur on
Torture interviewed on November 22 and 24, 2005, at the Beijing No. 2
Prison, and Zhang Hongwei, a Falun Gong practitioner residing in
Tonghua District, Jilin Province, currently detained at Jilin Prison.
The list of victims goes on and on...
The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Suggests Mechanisms to Hold States Accountable
In an effort to help stop the use of torture, Mr. Nowak proposes
that consideration be given to methods for holding accountable those
States in which torture is systematic or widespread.
As an example, he suggests, "Such States might be required to
contribute adequate funds to the United Nations Voluntary Fund for
Victims of Torture. In addition, the respective costs for treatment
should ideally be borne by the individual perpetrators, their superiors
and the authorities directly responsible."
Mr. Manfred Nowak's report is at:
http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/torture/rapporteur/
Click on the second report: A/HRC/4/33/Add.1
The information about China begins on page 45 and continues to page 70; the organ harvesting begins on page 60.
Mr. Nowak is the first UN Special Rapporteur on the Question of
Torture to visit China for a UN investigation on torture. The findings
from his 2005 visit triggered worldwide attention to the communist
government's use of torture on its own citizens. His China mission
report can be found here
Ms. Asma Jahangir's report is at:
http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?m=86
Click on "E" in the first report. The information on China begins on page 28.
UN Report on Organ Harvesting in China
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