| Oral Intervention by Xiao Qiang - United Nations Subcommission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities |
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Oral Intervention by Xiao Qiang - United Nations Subcommission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities
United Nations Subcommission
on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities
Oral Intervention
Statement by: Xiao Qiang
(Credited by The International League for Human Rights)
August 16, 1994
Geneva, Switzerland
Under: Item 10: Administration of Justice and the Human Rights of Detainees
Mr.Chairperson,
It is a real privilege for me to speak here. My name is Xiao Qiang, the executive Director of Human Rights in China. I would like to express our concern over the following three issues about the human rights violations related to this item, administration of justice and the human rights of detainees, in the People's Republic of China.
- Fair Trial Concerns For 1989 Demonstrators Still In Prison
Mr. Chairperson,
In August of 1989, the 41st Subcommission meeting passed a resolution (1989/5) to express the United Nations' concern over the gross human rights violations committed by the Chinese government during the brutal military crackdown on peaceful demonstrators in June 1989. Five years after martial law troops stormed Beijing, over 200 people arrested in the crackdown remain in jail. They were convicted of offenses allegedly involving violence, include such activities as "counterrevolutionary arson," "counterrevolutionary murder," and weapons stealing. They continue to perform hard labor and often suffer from torture and other serious abuses in prisons and labor camps today.
Human Rights in China has serious doubts about whether any of these inmates received fair trials. We have repeatedly documented the failings of the Chinese justice system, particularly in cases related to politically sensitive issues such as "June Fourth." There is no presumption of innocence in Chinese courts, conditions of pre-trial detention are often severely abusive, coerced confessions are common, sentences are frequently decided by Party committees prior to the hearing of evidence, and judges are generally more versed in the exigencies of politics than in the requirements of law.
We have obtained an official government instructional document for lawyers working on cases in 1989. It states: "To provide good defense in the turmoil-related cases is to play a part in the overall task of quelling the turmoil and rebellion. Defense is not a matter of victory or defeat, and a lawyer is not competing with the procuratorial and court personnel to see who comes out on top; it is a propaganda effort, directed at the citizens, to condemn vice and praise justice." It is clear that in carrying out trials of "June Fourth"-related offenders, lawyers and other organs of the administration of justice were obeying political orders rather than seeking justice under the law.
Furthermore, in the circumstances of the 1989 crackdown, questions arise as to whether some acts charged as criminal might actually have been carried out in legitimate self-defense - particularly in a situation in which soldiers, tanks, and machine guns were confronting unarmed crowds. We have reported 214 such cases to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention this year.
- A New and Disturbing Pattern of Arbitrary Detention
Mr. Chairperson,
Over the last few years, there has been a new and disturbing pattern of arbitrary detention in China. The government has begun to hold human rights activists in prolonged incommunicado detention without informing their families of their whereabouts or, in some cases, even acknowledging the fact of their arrest; for all practical purposes, the latter have "disappeared."
Liu Nianchun, a Beijing labor activist "disappeared" in May 1994. Despite his wife's repeated inquiries, the government refuses to acknowledge his detainment by the police or provide any other information. Although his family has found witnesses who saw plainclothes police arresting Liu, the Public Security Bureau continues to deny knowledge of his case.
Human rights NGOs have documented 17 cases of arrests of human rights activists in China since this March. In all but one of these cases, families have not been told where the individuals are being held, or in some cases, even whether they are being held. We reported these cases to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on July 8, 1994.
It is worth noting that the Chinese government deliberately misled the United Nations in response to inquiries. Kang Yuchun, a medical researcher at Beijing's Anding Hospital was secretly arrested on May 6, 1992 and then disappeared. His parents, a peasant couple living on the outskirts of Beijing, had no idea where he had been taken and were unable to find him. In June 1993, Human Rights Watch/Asia reported his case to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances which then formally requested a clarification from the Chinese government. The government told the Working Group in October 1993 that he had already been sentenced - clearly a falsehood since Kang Yuchun did not go on trial until July 1994.
- New Security Regulations
Mr. Chairperson,
On June 4, 1994, Premier Li Peng signed into law a set of new regulations entitled "Detailed Implementation Regulations for the State Security Law." Specific articles in these Regulations are aimed at suppressing freedoms of expression, association, and religion, repressing demands for independence by ethnic groups, and outlawing assistance to Chinese human rights activists from either NGOs abroad or domestic businesses. The Regulations also define writing or speech "harmful to state security" as "sabotage."
The Regulations give the State Security Bureau the authority to define "enemy organizations" or actions "harmful to state security." These terms are completely vague and open to political interpretation. Not a single right or limitation on the powers of the government organs enforcing the law is mentioned in these regulations. Arbitrary arrests and unfair trials are facilitated by these articles as they tremendously expand the already sweeping powers of the State Security Bureau and the Ministry of Public Security over citizens, property, and personal freedom, and over the actions of other state organs.
Mr. Chairperson,
China has 1.2 billion people. It is also a permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations. We firmly believe that any serious attention to the administration of justice and the human rights of detainees cannot fail to recognize the critically abusive nature of conditions in these areas in China today. I respectfully request this Subcommission adopt measures to address and help redress such conditions.
Thank you, Mr.Chairperson.