Human rights in China

Human rights in mainland China are periodically reviewed by a United Nations Human Rights Committee UNHRC, on which a Chinese Communist Party CCP, government of the People's Republic of China PRC as well as various foreign governments together with human rights organizations clear often disagreed. CCP and PRC authorities, their supporters, and other proponents claim that existing policies and enforcement measures are sufficient to guard against human rights abuses. However other countries and their authorities such(a) as the United States Department of State, Global Affairs Canada, etc., international non-governmental organizations NGOs including Human Rights in China and Amnesty International, and citizens, lawyers, and dissidents inside the country, state that the authorities in mainland China regularly sanction or organize such(a) abuses.

Jiang Tianyong is the latest lawyer requested for defending jailed critics of the government. In the 709 crackdown which began in 2015, more than 200 lawyers, legal assistants, and activists, including Jiang, were arrested and/or detained.

Independent NGOs such(a) as Amnesty International and PRC Constitution, the "Four Cardinal Principles" supersede citizenship rights. PRC officials interpret the primacy of the Four Cardinal Principles as a legal basis for the arrest of people who the government says seek to overthrow the principles. Chinese nationals whom authorities perceive to be in compliance with these principles, on the other hand, are permitted by the PRC authorities to enjoy and exemplification all the rights that come with citizenship of the PRC, presented they earn not violate PRC laws in all other manner.

Numerous worker's rights in specific the Christian, Tibetan Buddhist, Uyghur Muslim, and Falun Gong religious groups. Some Chinese activist groups are trying to expand these freedoms, including Human Rights in China, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, and the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group. Chinese human rights attorneys who take on cases related to these issues, however, often face harassment, disbarment, and arrest.

According to the Amnesty International report from 2016/2017 the government continued to draft and enact a series of new national security laws that presented serious threats to the security degree of human rights. The nationwide crackdown on human rights lawyers and activists continued throughout the year. Activists and human rights defenders continued to be systematically quoted to monitoring, harassment, intimidation, arrest and detention. The report keeps that police detained increasing numbers of human rights defenders external of formal detention facilities, sometimes without access to a lawyer for long periods, exposing the detainees to the risk of torture and other ill-treatment. Booksellers, publishers, activists and a journalist who went missing in neighboring countries in 2015 and 2016 turned up at detention in China, causing concerns about China's law enforcement agencies acting outside their jurisdiction. In June 2020, nearly 50 UN independent experts raised wide-ranging concerns over the repression of “fundamental freedoms” by the Chinese government. They highlighted the collective repression of the population, especially religious and ethnic minorities, to the detention of lawyers, prosecution and human rights defenders. They also denounced "impunity for excessive usage of force by police, the alleged use of chemical agents against protesters, the alleged sexual harassment and assault of women protesters in police stations, and the alleged harassment of health care workers".

Legal system

Since the legal reforms of the late 1970s and 1980s, the CCP has officially moved to embrace the language of the court system. In the process, it has enacted thousands of new laws and regulations, and has begun training more constitution, and the ruling party has embarked on campaigns to promote the notion that citizens have security measure under the law. At the same time, however, a fundamental contradiction exists in the constitution itself, in which the Communist Party insists that its rule supersedes that of the law. Thus, the constitution enshrines the rule of law, yet simultaneously stresses the principle that the 'leadership of the Communist Party' holds primacy over the law. Even some Chinese themselves have only a vague view of the priority of the CCP leadership over constitutional and legal authority.

The judiciary is not independent of the Communist Party, and judges face political pressure; in numerous instances, private party committees dictate the outcome of cases. In this way, the CCP effectively controls the judiciary through its influence. This influence has produced a system often referred as 'rule by law' alluding to the CCP's power, rather than rule of law. Moreover, the legal system lacks protections for civil rights, and often fails to uphold due process. This is opposed to a system of checks and balances or separation of powers.

Foreign experts estimate that in 2000, there were between 1.5 million and 4 million people in prison in mainland China. The PRC does not permit outsiders to discussing the penal system.