Overview of Human Rights in China

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is officially a Communist state with a mixed economic system. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the only political party allowed in the nation, and it is the utmost source of power according to the Chinese Constitution.

In March 2004, China amended its constitution to include a promise to ensure the human rights of its citizens. This was a step towards acknowledging the importance of the protection of human rights. At the same time, the government, led by the Central Committee of the CCP called for reforms within the Party in order to strengthen its’ hold over the country. It decreed that while China would remain a one-party state, there would be more rule of law in the land. Notwithstanding these moves toward increasing the rule of law, the legal system itself remains one of the largest perpetrators of human rights abuses.

In China, laws are poorly worded, the judiciary lacks independence, trials favor the prosecutions’ side, and official corruption is widespread. That said, there have been serious efforts in the last few years to address the corruption issue.  Nevertheless, the justice system is skewed so much that confessions are often coerced out of suspects, as a result of torture or other forms of mistreatment; those confession are later used against suspects in the court of law.

The freedoms of press, expression, speech, assembly, association, religion, and movement are all severely limited. The Internet has emerged as a powerful tool for disseminating information in China. The government has imposed tighter controls by using very sophisticated technologies to limit access and usage of the internet. Arrest, detention and/or long prison sentences await those who are found guilty of ‘passing state secrets’ on the Internet.

While China is fast becoming one of the major players in the world economy, its workers have yet to see the benefits of the nation’s economic growth. Minimum wage requirements are often ignored and health and safety measures are usually not implemented. When state-owned companies went bankrupt or were privatized, former employees of those companies lost their pensions. Independent trade unions are not allowed in China. Massive labor protests are occurring in many regions across the nation in response to the lack of trickledown economics.

Many of the poor and lower middle class are being forcibly evicted from their homes due to the development of new housing projects. Many have faced imprisonment when they fought for compensation or redress for their losses.

The Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim people in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, seek political autonomy or independence from China. Referencing its domestic ‘war on terror,' China has been harshly repressed this ethno-linguistic minority group. Arbitrary arrest of ‘separatists, terrorists and religious extremists’ occur almost daily in the Xinjiang region. Thousands of political prisoners are imprisoned indefinitely. Many of those who are charged with terrorist or separatist offences are sentenced to death and executed. No official record of how many have met such fate has been released.

Hundreds of North Korean asylum seekers are arrested and forcibly returned each year as China continues to deny North Koreans access to any refugee determination procedures.

China prohibits any human rights organizations independent of the government to be active in China. International human rights organizations are usually barred from entering the nation. Chinese citizens who seek to pass information to human rights groups face imprisonment, if found out.

Overall, China is considered one of the more repressive states in the international arena. 

Human Development Index (HDI) Rank:

81st out of 177

Note: Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite index that measures the level of well-being of nations in the world. It uses factors such as poverty, literacy, life-expectancy, education, gross domestic product, and purchasing power parity to assess the average achievements in each nation. It has been used in the United Nation’s Human Development Report since 1993.