Human Rights: January 2007 Archives

By Maureen Fan | Washington Post Foreign Service
January 12, 2007

Report Says Conditions Worsened Significantly in 2006

Human rights conditions in China deteriorated significantly in 2006, with about 100 activists, lawyers, writers and academics subjected to police custody, house arrest, incommunicado confinement, pressure in their jobs and surveillance by plainclothes security forces, a new report by Human Rights Watch said.

Several widely publicized cases involving journalists and rights lawyers were cited in the report as evidence of a severe crackdown, prompted in large part by fears that individual cases of unrest might lead to regional instability. There were 39,000 cases of "public order disruptions," or large protests, in the first half of 2006, four times as many as 10 years ago, according to data from the Public Security Ministry.

Authorities fired and jailed journalists, shut down more than 700 online forums and ordered eight Internet search engines to filter "subversive and sensitive content" based on 10,000 key words, according to the report, which was released Thursday by the New York-based watchdog group. Lawyers who represented peasants protesting mistreatment were badly beaten, detained and arrested. In March, new restrictions were announced requiring protesters' attorneys to report to local judges in cases involving 10 or more plaintiffs.

In an indication of official attention being paid to perceived agitators, China's top security chief last weekend toured Shandong province, where a blind legal activist was jailed after revealing abuses stemming from China's one-child-only policy. Luo Gan, a member of the Communist Party's Politburo Standing Committee, ordered judicial departments to deal with "discordant elements" at their source.

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By BBC News
January 07, 2007

The Socialist candidate for the French presidency, Segolene Royal, has called on China to meet its international obligations on human rights.

Ms Royal, in Beijing for a three-day visit, criticised China's record on jailing journalists and lawyers.

"Professionals who have participated in defending rights should be protected," she said. "This is part of (China's) international commitments."

Ms Royal is to meet Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong on Monday.

Speaking during a tour of Beijing's Forbidden City, she said that ties with China should not mean "losing our fundamental values".

"The question of human rights should not be delinked from other problems," she said.

She also touched on the issue of environmental damage caused by China's rapid development.

"It is necessary to link economic development, environmental protection and the development of social rights," the French news agency AFP quoted her as saying.

"When there is serious environmental degradation, when water is polluted and millions of people have no access to clean water, this is an attack on human rights."

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By Human Rights in China | 中国人权
January 02, 2007

Human Rights in China (HRIC) has learned that Gansu-based activist Sun Xiaodi is facing serious harassment by local officials and unknown persons, and has been unable to obtain official permission to seek medical treatment in Beijing for a potentially life-threatening health condition.

Sun Xiaodi has spent more than a decade petitioning the central authorities over radioactive contamination from the No. 792 Uranium Mine in the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu Province. On December 1, 2006, HRIC presented Sun's acceptance message for the prestigious Nuclear-Free Future Award in Window Rock, Arizona. The award selection was made by a jury of international environmentalists, activists, scholars and journalists.

Sources in China told HRIC that Sun has faced an intensification of harassment since he was presented with the Nuclear-Free Future Award. He is under constant surveillance by State Security officials, and since December 5 has experienced several midnight raids on his home by unknown persons throwing stones at his door and windows. Sources say that when Sun reported the attacks to local state security officers, they told him, "You're free to leave if you want to!"

Sun has long been a thorn in the side of local officials because of his petitioning over the radioactive contamination, and since being detained briefly in early 2006, he has had his water and electricity shut off numerous times for no apparent reason. Although he is no longer officially under residential surveillance, in practice his every movement is monitored, and if he leaves the area for any reason, he is followed and interviewed by security personnel upon his return. He has also been the subject of official slander.

In November, a medical examination revealed a 4-5-centimeter tumor in Sun's abdominal cavity. (Residents of the area where Sun Xiaodi lives suffer an unusually high rate of cancer and other health conditions associated with radioactive contamination.) Given the limitations of local medical facilities, Sun put in a request with local public security officials for permission to go to Beijing for further diagnosis and treatment, but after nearly two months he has received no reply. Sun is currently experiencing such physical discomfort that he has difficulty sleeping, and in addition to the tumor he suffers from gall stones and coronary heart disease.

HRIC condemns the oppressive treatment of Sun Xiaodi by local officials in apparent retaliation against his receiving an international environmental award. The Chinese government is a party to numerous international agreements that require its cooperation in implementing international environmental standards, and has promised a "Green Olympics" in 2008. The international community should take the opportunity to put pressure on the Chinese authorities to fulfill its promises on the environment, and to protect the rights and physical safety of environmental activists such as Sun Xiaodi. The central government should also take immediate steps to ensure that local officials do not prevent Sun from traveling to Beijing and receiving the medical treatment he requires.

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