Pékin2008

On 8 August 2008 the Olympic Games will open in Beijing. The Olympic Charter states that Olympism is founded on the “respect for universal fundamental ethical principles”. In April 2001, the representative of the Beijing Olympic Candidacy Committee affirmed that awarding the event to China would “contribute to the development of human rights”.

The promises of the Chinese authorities are for the moment belied by the facts. Repression of any form of opposition to the establishment is routine, whether against activists, lawyers defending sensitive causes, journalists or cyber-dissidents, as well as Falun Gong practitioners and other independent religious groups. The situation of China’s national minorities is also of great concern, particularly that of the Uighurs and Tibetans.
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Yet there are many signs pointing to civil society’s strong aspirations for greater democracy and the rule of law. Chinese citizens courageously fight for their rights in spite of the risks incurred. Messages of protest on the internet are constantly increasing.

The run-up to the Olympics is a crucial period for holding the Chinese authorities to their word and drawing the world’s attention to the need for vital changes in China with regard to human rights. This international event will attract massive media coverage. Countless Chinese citizens are hoping that the Games will be the catalyst for a new freedom.

We are defending their cause and their aspirations by presenting the Chinese authorities with eight realistic requirements which can immediately be put into action if the political will is strong enough. The Chinese government must stand by the commitments it has made publicly in its bid for the Olympics.


1 - FREE PEOPLE IMPRISONED SINCE THE 1989 TIANANMEN DEMONSTRATIONS, AND ALL PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE

The majority of Chinese political prisoners are detained in relation to various offences (subversion, divulging State secrets, disturbing public order, spreading false rumours, etc.), the true nature of which are not made public. For this reason it is difficult to assess the number of political prisoners detained today. What we do know is that hundreds of those who took part in the democratic demonstrations of 1989 and who were given sentences of up to twenty years, will still be in prison when the Olympic flame is lit in 2008. In addition, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people unjustly held in prisons or “re-education through labour” camps: lawyers, journalists, internet users, defenders of civic and environmental rights, and advocates of the right to practise one’s chosen religion, the right of those not belonging to the Han ethnic majority to speak their own language, etc. Tension is growing between the people and their government because the official line –which refers to the respect for fundamental rights –is contradicted by the harsh repression of those who are seen as a threat to the status quo.


2 - END CONTROL OF THE MEDIA, INCLUDING THE INTERNET

The Chinese government sees the media and the internet as strategic sectors that must not be left to the “hostile forces” regularly denounced by President Hu Jintao. The Departments of Propaganda and Public Security, and the cyber police - all bastions of die-hard conservatism - are instructed to censure all subjects of a sensitive nature, in particular the democratic movement of 1989.
At least thirty journalists and fifty internet users are currently in jail, some of them since the 1980s. The government blocks thousands of websites, including that of the BBC. Broadcasts in Chinese, Tibetan and Uighur are jammed. The law severely punishes the divulging of state secrets, subversion and libel – loosely defined notions that may be adapted to fit any given case. Although regulations concerning foreign journalists have recently been relaxed, it is still impossible for international media to employ Chinese journalists, or to move about freely in Tibet and Xinjiang.


3 - SUSPEND ALL EXECUTIONS IN CHINA PENDING ABOLITION OF THE DEATH PENALTY

China holds the world record for the number of executions carried out each year. However, as statistics on death sentences and executions are classified information, any real assessment is difficult. Estimates by certain Chinese researchers report between 8,000 and 10,000 executions per year. The death sentence is often pronounced at the end of unfairly conducted trials and applies to a large number of crimes. No less than 68 charges, including non-violent offences such as corruption, are punishable by death. New regulations introduced on 1 July 2006 require the condemned person's consent for the extraction of his or her organs. From 1 January 2007, the Supreme People's Court is responsbile for approving all death sentences. Yet the lack of transparency in the judicial process makes it difficult to determine whether the consent reauirement is effective in practice.


4 - ABOLISH THE PRACTICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION

Administrative detention – in Chinese laojiao, or “re-education through labour” – is the penalty for minor offences not punishable under the terms of the Penal Code. The length of “re-education through labour” detention varies from one to three years, and can be extended for a further year. It is decided arbitrarily by the police, without charge, without trial and unchecked by any legal body. Torture and ill-treatment are common during this type of detention. In addition, Chinese citizens are abducted and held in secret for an unlimited period in military camp annexes or in centres run by the police or Ministry of Public Security. During the Olympics, re-education through labour will be extended to a broader population with a view to ensuring security in the host city. Vagrancy, begging, unlicensed taxi driving and unauthorised trading will be included in the list of “criminal offences”.



5 - END THE ROUTINE USE OF TORTURE

In November 2006, Wang Zhenchuan, one of the seven Deputy Procurators of the People’s Supreme Procuratorate, admitted that almost all wrongful convictions handed down in recent years resulted from the use of illegal interrogation methods. For the United Nations Special Rapporteur: “The practice of torture, though on the decline – particularly in urban areas- remains widespread in China”. Several factors contribute to the continued use of torture, in particular the rules of evidence, which encourage investigators to seek confessions under torture, excessively long police custody, the absence of a legal culture based on the presumption of innocence, limited access to a defence lawyer and the obligation to finalise the investigation as promptly as possible. Based on the testimony of victims, the list of methods of torture used is astonishing, from beatings, electric shock batons and sleep deprivation to the enforcement of painful stress positions, during which the prisoner may be suspended, handcuffed and often left alone for hours or entire days.


6 - ALLOW FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND THE RIGHT TO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING FOR TRADE UNIONS

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions is the sole organisation for the defence of workers’ interests authorised by the government. Since 1949, its role has merely been to inform workers of government policy. Over the last 25 years, various economic reforms have resulted in new inequalities and social conflicts. In a context where freedom of speech is almost non-existent, popular discontent has made itself heard through rioting, uprisings and strikes. Since 1995, these protests have moved into the workplace to denounce dubious privatisations that have led to massive layoffs. While concerned by the social crisis, the Communist Party prefers to focus on China’s economic performance to ensure the continued influx of foreign investment, rather than recognise workers’ most elementary rights. Anxious not to have its authority challenged, it refuses to grant independent status to unions whose representatives are always designated by the Party, never elected by the workers. As for independent associations that endeavour to compensate for government shortfalls in social spheres (health, education, the environment), they may only operate after finding a government sponsor and paying a substantial deposit.



7 - REPEAL ARTICLE 306 OF THE PENAL CODE WHICH EXPOSES LAWYERS TO REPRESSION

To ensure the right to defence counsel and the independence of judges and lawyers, the separation of powers must be recognised. In China, judges are appointed and dismissed by the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party Central Committee, while a lawyer’s licence to practise is granted by local administrative officers. The legal profession is today considered one of the most dangerous in China, just after that of policemen and journalists. Lawyers are not only vulnerable to physical assault. Article 306 of the 1997 Penal Code places them under the constant threat of being accused of false testimony. If a defence lawyer wishes to use testimony that contradicts the prosecutor’s assertions, the prosecutor can cite this Article to demand the arrest of the lawyer for false testimony. Article 306 has led to the imprisonment of more than 500 lawyers.


8 - END THE EVICTION OF CITIZENS FROM THEIR HOMES AND LAND

In Beijing, the majority of evictions relate to the organisation of the Games.
Forcible removal of citizens and lack of adequate compensation have led to violent scenes that have been severely repressed. Evictions are also prevalent in the countryside, where land is cleared to make way for development projects and industrial plants, many of them highly polluting. Defenders of the victims of these evictions risk prosecution, harassment and imprisonment.