Paris,
Geneva, 20th December 2002
Excellencies,
The
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the
World
Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), in the framework
of their joint
programme the Observatory for the Protection of Human
Rights
Defenders, would like to express their concern with regard
to the
restrictions to freedom of association in China.
Freedom
of association is enshrined in the Universal Declaration
on
Human Rights and in the International Covenant on Civil
and Political
Rights, which China signed in 1998. It is also protected
by the
Chinese Constitution (art. 35). However, restrictive legislation
has
been enacted in 1998 : Order N° 250 Regulations on
the Registration
and Management of Social Groups; Order N° 251 Provisional
Regulations
on the Registration and Management of People-Organised
Non-Enterprise
Units; and Order N° 252 Provisional Regulations on
the Registration
and Management of Institutional Units. These laws expand
the
"registration and management" scheme previously
applicable only to
"social groups" to all non-profit initiatives
undertaken by Chinese
citizens.
The
1998 legislation raises the requirements for the establishment
of
a social group ; allows for a preemptive ban on the registration
of
an organization or unit, based on "evidence"
of how it might act, and
threatens those engaging in unapproved activities with
unspecified
criminal penalties and criminal detention ; triples the
length of
time required for the processing of a registration application
from a
social group, from 30 days to 90 days, and adds a third
stage to the
approval process; bars individuals who have ever being
deprived of
their political rights from acting as the representative
or
"responsible persons" of an organization ; prohibits
national groups
from establishing any kind of regional-level branch office,
thus
severely restricting the coordinating capacity of any
social group
and prohibits non-enterprise units from setting up any
branch offices
; allows for extensive government interference in the
financial
affairs of groups ; increases the controls to be imposed
on social
groups by the government "sponsors" to which
they are required to be
attached.
This
legislative framework restricts excessively freedom of
association. In practice, people calling for human rights
improvements, ranging from members of the China Democratic
Party to
Falun Gong practitioners, are systematically silenced.
Efforts to
organise independently, whether around issues of politics,
religion,
labour or human rights are ruthlessly repressed.
Official
attitude towards independent human rights activism remains
hostile; there is still no possibility of establishing
rights
monitoring groups inside the country. Individuals have
continued to
be arrested and sentenced to prison for seeking to expose
rights
abuses, help victims, or exercise their own rights to
freedom of
expression and association. Attempts to organise independent
human
rights groups have usually ended with activists being
sent to prison.
The
Tiananmen Mothers, a group representing families of protesters
killed or injured in Beijing during the 1989 crackdown,
are still
subject to harassment and intimidation, with officials
depicting as
"traitors" several of the key figures. The organisation
is demanding
a full accounting from the government of what happened
in 1989. It is
not registered in China and Ding Zilin, the leading voice
is under
constant pressure.
More
recently, in November 2002, Li Yibin, publisher of the
online
magazine "Democracy and Freedom," was secretly
detained and his
whereabouts remain unknown. The Observatory fears that
many other
internet activists have probably been arrested over the
past month,
but most of these activists have little contact with the
outside
world, and their disappearances have not yet come to widespread
attention. The recent arrests seem to be part of increasing
efforts
by the Chinese authorities to crack down on free dissemination
of
news and discussion over the Internet.
The
Observatory is also concerned about the situation of Li
Hai,
detained in 1995 for documenting the cases of some 900
Beijing
residents sentenced to long prison terms for their role
in the 1989
demonstrations. In 1996, Li Hai was sentenced to a nine-year
prison
term for "prying into and gathering" state secrets.
Li has suffered
from serious medical problems in prison, and has not received
appropriate medical treatment.
In
the economic and social field, independent trade unions
are still
not allowed. Although China ratified the International
Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2001, it made
a reservation
to Article 8.1 (a) of the Covenant (the right to form
and join a
trade union of one's choice), referring to the contents
of national
legislation. China has still not ratified the two core
ILO
Conventions on freedom of association (n°87 and 98).
The consequence
is that there is only one single trade union in China,
workers being
denied the right to set up independent unions. The leaders
of
workers' protests are systematically arrested. Labour
representatives
Yao Fuxin, Pang Qingxiang, Xiao Yunliang and Wang Zhaoming,
who were
arrested during the largest workers demonstration in March
2002 have
been detained for more than six months, and to date, they
have not
been formally charged (on March 11 and 12, over 10,000
workers hit
the streets in Liaoyang to demand that the government
ensure their
right to a decent standard of living).The Observatory
is also
concerned about the health of labour rights lawyer Xu
Jian, who
suffers from acute hepathisis. Xu Jian was arrested in
December 1999
and sentenced to four years in prison by the Baotou City
Intermediate
People's Court (Inner Mongolia) on July 18, 2000, for
allegedly
"plotting to overthrow the socialist system and state
power".
A
registered legal practitioner in Baotou, Inner-Mongolia,
Xu Jian's
only crime was to have provided legal counseling to the
workers at
his office and via its hotline, as well as helping in
filing labour
dispute cases for arbitration and litigation. Xu's activities
were
open and legal.
Freedom
of association is not respected either in the religious
field. Since July 1999, the Chinese government has forbidden
the
movement of Falun Gong practitioners and has launched
a repression
against them. They are victims of an increasing use of
torture in
order to force them to renounce being part of the movement
and
reeducation through labour is largely used in the brutal
campaign
against them.
According
to the figures provided on 26 September 2002, by the Falun
Gong through the Falun Dafa Information Centre, 485 practitioners
have allegedly died since the persecution of Falun Gong
in China
began in 1999. According to the same source, 100,000 people
would
have been arbitrarily detained, 20,000 would have been
sent to labour
camps without trial (for terms up to 3 years), 500 would
have been
sentenced to extended jail terms (some up to 18 years)
1,000 healthy
practitioners are being held in mental institutions.
Freedom
of association is also violated in the political field
:
attempts to set up legal political parties are not tolerated.
China
Democratic Party (CDP) founding members Xu Wenli, Wang
Youcai and
Qin Yongmin, who tried to register their Party legally
with the Civil
Affairs departments are currently undergoing heavy prison
sentences.
Xu Wenli was sentenced to 13 years in prison and three
years'
deprivation of political rights. Wang Youcai was convicted
of
violating Article 106 of the Criminal Code and sentenced
to 11 years
in prison. His "crimes," according to the prosecution,
included
drafting the CDP declaration; being the prime mover of
the CDP;
intending to hold a CDP meeting in the form of a tea party;
and
sending 18 CDP documents abroad by electronic mail.
Qin
Yongmin was sentenced after a two-and-a-half-hour trial
on
December 17, 1998, in the Wuhan People's Intermediate
Court. He was
convicted of, among other things, "preparing to organise
the CDP,
editing [the newsletter] China Human Rights Watch, reporting
on human
rights to the United Nations and linking up with foreign
hostile
organisations." He was given a 12-year prison term.
China's
16th Party Congress has drawn a number of petitions and
open
letters from Chinese dissidents are calling for political
reform and
greater openness. At the same time, Chinese authorities
have begun
arresting some vocal dissidents in order to maintain a
"peaceful and
stable" atmosphere for the Congress.
The
recent arrests of human rights and political activists
are
extremely worrying and damage the hopes raised by the
election of the
new Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist
Party, on
November 14. The Observatory for the Protection of Human
Rights
Defenders therefore calls Chinese authorities to take
the present
submission into account in order to favour more openness
with regard
to freedom of opinion, expression and association in China.
We
thank you for your attention.
Sincerely
yours,
Sidiki
Kaba
President of the FIDH
Eric
Sottas
OMCT Director
