Issues: Stop Executions, Respect the Rights of Activists, Freedom from Censorship and Fair Trials for All

BACKGROUND
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) granted Beijing the 2008 Olympic Games on 13 July 2001. During the bidding process and afterwards, Chinese and Olympic officials made assurances that human rights in China would improve as a result of hosting the Games.

Wang Wei, Secretary General of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Bid Committee said:
"We are confident that the Games coming to China not only promotes our economy, but also enhances human rights."
Jacques Rogge, President of the IOC said:
"We are convinced that the Olympic Games will improve the human rights record in China."
While the world’s attention is focusing on the spectacle of the Games and its celebration of human sporting achievement, Amnesty International is monitoring some relevant aspects of China’s human rights performance and will keep you up to date with news stories and debate.

We will focus on assessing the progress on four human rights issues of particular importance in China:

STOP EXECUTIONS Amnesty International believes there is likely to have been a significant drop in executions since the Supreme People’s Court review for all death sentences was restored in January 2007. However, China remains the world leader in the use of the death penalty. The death penalty and the conditions on death row in China are an affront to human dignity. No one sentenced to death receives a fair trial in accordance with international human rights standards.

Criminals sentenced to death during an open trial in Zhuzhou, central China's Hunan province December 2006 © Private

Around 68 crimes can be punishable by death in China, including non-violent offences like tax fraud, embezzling, taking bribes and some drug crimes.

The only way to verify any drop in the number of executions is to publish the death penalty statistics. China needs to continue this reform by introducing greater transparency, to ensure that the families and lawyers of those sentenced have access to them and to information about their cases.

In line with China’s official goal of complete abolition, it also needs to significantly reduce the number of capital offences and to abolish the death penalty for non-violent crimes

RESPECT THE RIGHTS OF ACTIVISTS As the Olympics approach, human rights activists in China face serious risk of abuse. Several activists in Beijing have experienced growing harassment and surveillance, while abuse of activists across China is also on the rise. In March 2004, China amended its Constitution to include the clause: “the State respects and protects human rights”. Despite this, many activists are still held as prisoners of conscience after politically		Police detain a Falun Gong protester in Tiananmen Square as a crowd watches in Beijing Oct. 1, 2000 © Chien-min Chung/AP/PA Photo
motivated trials, while growing numbers are kept as prisoners in their own homes.

Such patterns of police control, surveillance and arbitrary detention are also increasingly employed against the members of activists’ families, in an apparent attempt to apply more pressure on them.

Certain provisions of the Criminal Law continue to be used as political tools to suppress dissent. Broadly defined categories of crimes, such as “separatism”, “subversion”, “disturbing public order”, and “stealing state secrets”, are used to prosecute those engaged in legitimate and peaceful human rights activities.

Amnesty International calls upon China to cease the arbitrary detention, intimidation or harassment of activists and human rights defenders and to release those currently imprisoned. All activists and human rights defenders should also be free to highlight issues of legitimate concern without fear of penalty or harassment.

FREEDOM FROM CENSORSHIP In 2001, when Beijing was chosen to host the 2008 Olympics, the Chinese government promised “no restrictions on media reporting and movement of journalists up to and including the Olympic Games.” Yet China’s commitment to “complete media freedom” is compromised by an ongoing crackdown on individual journalists, newspapers and websites that has seen the country branded “the world’s leading jailer of journalists” by media freedom organizations.

Chinese police raid an illegal Internet cafe in the southern city of Guangzhou, 20 June 2002. © Private

Censorship of websites, blogs and emails is also major concern. Run by an estimated 30,000-strong police force, the “Golden Shield” or “Great Firewall of China” is believed to be the most extensive, technologically sophisticated and broad-reaching system of internet filtering in the world.

And, while temporary new regulations may give foreign journalists more freedom to conduct interviews in China until October 2008, restrictions over the domestic distribution of their reports and control over the domestic Chinese media have been tightened.

Amnesty International calls upon China to give its domestic media the same freedom afforded to foreign journalists. The authorities should cease the unwarranted censorship of broadcast, print and online media in China and take urgent measures to prevent the arbitrary detention, harassment and unfair dismissal of journalists in violation of their rights to freedom of expression.

FAIR TRIALS FOR ALL In May 2006, Beijing extended use of a system of detention without trial called Re-education Through Labour, to "clean up" the city’s image before the Olympics. Used since the mid-1950s, the system targets those who have committed minor offences but are not legally considered criminals. They are forced to work for long hours, similar to compulsory labour in prisons. People can be detained for three years, with the possible addition of a fourth. Offences punishable by the system include unlawful advertising,		Patients at the Kunming Municipal Compulsory Rehabilitation Centre receive anti-drug education, July 2005. © Guang Niu/Getty Images
unlicensed taxis, unlicensed businesses, vagrancy and begging. Authorities can also punish peaceful protest or dissent.

Hundreds of thousands are believed to be held in Re-education Through Labour facilities across China. All are at high risk of torture or ill-treatment.

China’s use of administrative detention is incompatible with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It falls short on the rights of detainees to be brought promptly before a judge; the right to a fair trial; and the prohibition of forced or compulsory labour.

Amnesty International has called on China to abolish Re-education Through Labour and other forms of punitive administrative detention. Pending their abolition, the authorities should ensure that the Beijing police do not use detention without trial to clean up the city.