China Releases National Human Rights Action Plan
Critics Claim Economic Rights Are No Substitute for Civil Liberties
Apr 14, 2009
According to a report released by Amnesty International on April 14, 2009, Chinese authorities have released a report that includes concrete human rights targets to be achieved by 2010, including the right to a fair trial and the right to participate in government decisions.
Human rights activists have also applauded other targets included in the plan, including specific protections for women, children, pensioners and the disabled. Yet organizations such as Amnesty International point out that there are major gaps in the plan that need to be addressed.
Civil Liberties Lacking in China’s Action Plan
According to Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific deputy director Roseann Rife in the aforementioned release, “The emphasis is on economic, social and cultural rights at the expense of civil and political rights. But it should be clear that the Chinese people can’t enjoy one set of rights without the others.”
For example, the Plan includes measures that purportedly discourage torture by providing detainees with medical care and adequate sanitary conditions. Yet it fails to address the harassment, detention, and imprisonment of human rights defenders who have been imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of expression.
Thus, it seems that such measures may serve to repeat existing laws while failing to substantively protect human rights. Critics claim that other liberties enshrined in the Chinese Constitution, such as the freedom of religion and the guarantee that capital punishment cases must be approved by the Chinese Supreme Court, are conspicuously absent from the National Human Rights Action Plan.
Chinese People Dissatisfied With National Security Officers
According to New York University law professor Jerome Cohen in an April 14, 2009 article in The New York Times, the National Human Rights Action Plan comes as no surprise. “There is a concern growing even at the Politboro level,” said Cohen, “about the rising dissatisfaction of the people against the public security authorities.”
Cohen, who specializes in China’s legal system, believes that public dissatisfaction with police officers in the country has been a huge factor in the development of the latest human rights developments. Last year, for example, there was extensive public support for a man who killed six police officers in retalliation for being badly beaten by police officers earlier in the year.
China is Obligated to Protect Civil and Political Liberties Under International Law
As a party to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, as well as a signatory of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), China is obligated to protect civil and political liberties under international law.
Yet, according to Amnesty International's Ms. Rife, the Chinese government will have to move beyond words, or in this case paper, to make any meaningful strides towards safeguarding universal human rights.
"For China's human rights action plan to have real impact on the ground," said Rife in the previously mentioned Amnesty release, "authorities will have to take concrete steps that will meaningfully improve life for the people. These include steps to address specific civil and political human rights violations such as those highlighted in concluding observations and recommendations of UN human rights monitoring mechanisms and treaty bodies."
