The fundamental rights of [humanity] are, first: the right of habitation;
second, the right to move freely; third, the right to the soil and subsoil, and to the use of it;
fourth, the right of freedom of labor and of exchange; fifth, the right to justice;
sixth, the right to live within a natural national organization;
and seventh, the right to education.
~~ Albert Schweitzer

• EXECUTION: The Chinese government classifies as “state secrets” all statistics regarding capital punishment. Credible estimates suggest approximately 7,500 executions per year. China is estimated to execute more people than the rest of the world combined. The death penalty is currently mandated for no fewer than 68 crimes, including embezzlement and corruption. The Chinese criminal justice system recognizes neither the presumption of innocence nor the right to remain silent, and places sharp limits on defense counsel and the rights of the accused. Torture to obtain confessions remains prevalent. A spate of wrongful convictions have emerged in recent years, with the deputy procurator-general, Wang Zhenchuan, estimating in 2006 that there are at least 30 cases every year of wrongful convictions attributable to confessions extracted through torture and that “nearly every wrongful verdict in recent years relates to illegal interrogation.”  (Source)
  ¨ Man beaten to death by city guards (January 8, 2008)
  ¨ Protest confiscating of goods by city guards can get you killed (December 17, 2007 - video)
   

• CHILD LABOR: According to official statistical material from the Chinese Ministry of Education seen by Human Rights Watch, more than 400,000 middle and junior high schools, which are for children ages 12 to 16, nationwide are running agricultural and manufacturing schemes. In 2004, proceeds from Work and Study programs generated over 10 billion yuan (US$1.25 billion), the statistics show.  (Source)
   

• GENOCIDE IN DARFUR: Advocacy groups have been quick to point out that no country has done more to support the regime in Khartoum (from where the genocide is being driven) than the People’s Republic of China. Over the past decade, China has provided Khartoum with more than US$10 billion in commercial and capital investments and is the world’s largest player in Sudan’s oil industry (Sudan’s oil exports account for 7% of China’s total oil imports). When oil revenue is used to finance the government’s military, the link between China and the ongoing genocide in Sudan becomes quite clear. China is also Sudan’s largest trading partner – purchasing 71% of Sudan’s global exports, and providing 21% of its global imports. This includes weapons, weapons technology and weapons engineering expertise.  Source - CSR Asia Weekly, Dec 2007


 
• CENSORSHIP OF INFORMATION AVAILABLE: "Google Agrees to Censor Results in China," Associated Press, January 24, 2006. - Online search engine leader Google Inc. has agreed to censor its results in China, adhering to the country's free-speech restrictions in return for better access in the Internet's fastest growing market. Although China has loosened some of its controls in recent years, some topics, such as Taiwan's independence and 1989's Tiananmen Square massacre, remain forbidden subjects. View a WIDE collection of AP photos on these topics HERE. 
   

• INTERNET HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS: Several internet users in China who spoke out against the Chinese government online have been convicted of breaking the country's freedom of speech laws after their personal details were handed over to the Chinese government by Yahoo, who has admitted handing over the email and IP addresses of the activists. (Source)
  ¨ Police now have the right to suspend the Internet for 24 hours if protests or strikes happen (Source)
  ¨ Blogger protests arbitrary rise of the price of pork and is committed to psychiatric hospital
  ¨ Chinese officials want to 'purify' the Internet - with the help of Microsoft (China) program
   

• SUPPRESSION OF THE RIGHT TO KNOW: More than 180 reports of foreign journalists being obstructed in their work since the introduction exactly one year ago of new rules that were supposed to enable the international media to operate much more freely in China (January 2, 2008) - Details HERE
  ¨ Reporters Without Borders' Chinese language website is blocked
  ¨ Reporter writing for political reform in China is give six years prison sentence
  ¨ Censorship: 3 Stories China's media could not write about
   

• CONDITIONS THAT EXIST IN CHINA: Things are allowed to go on, are condoned and in fact are government sanctioned like no other place in the world:
  ¨ School girls (some as young as 11 years old) are forced to sell virginity by teacher
  ¨ HIV/AIDS grassroots and non-profit organizations face detention, inability to register and other hurdles
  ¨ Journalist arrested in May finally allowed to see his attorney in December
  ¨ New law will punish lawyers for what they say in court
  ¨ Headlines of 13 official newspapers are the same (this is not a joke)
  ¨ Internet censorship is unparalleled anywhere in the world and is an insult to the spirit of online freedom
  ¨ Journalist publishes article on official corruption and is detained for months
  ¨ 'We Could Disappear At Any Time' - Retaliation against Chinese petitioners
  ¨ 13 miners die each day in China; families receive $6,000 and if they protest the low compensation, they are arrested
  ¨ Lawyer that defends journalists and dissidents has license removed and is unemployed
  ¨ More than 100 drown in shopping center
  ¨ 1,000 year-old tree to be cut down by developers
  ¨ Reporter reports pollution - is forced to under vasectomy
  ¨ Price of bus tickets more than double, over 20,000 farmers protest
  ¨ 10 farmers protest pollution of their crops by a paper mill factory and are arrested
  ¨ Gas company's explosion destroys customer's face and hands; victim was refused care at local hospital as she lacked the funds for medical care (GRAPHIC IMAGES)
  ¨ Police rob and rape - then kill the victim
  ¨ Organ harvesting in China

TIANANMEN SQUARE: China’s total failure to account for the massacre of June 4, 1989 casts a pall on its efforts to project a new image and continues to spawn more abuses.  Eighteen years after Chinese government troops initiated a massacre of an estimated 2,000 unarmed citizens in and around Tiananmen Square and other Chinese cities on and after June 4, the Chinese government has wholly failed to account for those killings and bring justice to the victims. Instead, the government continues to harass the survivors, their families and those who dare to challenge the official whitewash of the events at Tiananmen Square, according to Human Rights Watch.  In the months  leading up to the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese Communist Party wants to be seen as a modern, sophisticated nation, one governed by the rule of law. But the image the world should not forget is that of a courageous individual facing down a column of tanks, as his fate and that of thousands of other protestors remain unresolved. Human Rights Watch has consistently asked the Chinese government to issue a complete list of those who died, those who were injured and those went to prison.  As of today, no such lists are publicly available. (Source)

Read Declassified History of Tiananmen Square (because you can!).

Today, very few Beijing residents use the area now.  A green belt was planned for Beijing in the 90’s, but China’s rapid growth and urban sprawl meant that the proposed land was swallowed up by new buildings. Only 2.8% of Beijing is now green but, despite the great need for more green space, it’s unlikely that the authorities will go ahead with these exciting plans - in fact, the Chinese media have been banned from publishing images of the concept. (Source)

This site is © Copyright PDL 2008, All Rights Reserved
Steve's free web templates