CHINA
Combined third and
fourth periodic reports dated 29 May 1997
Twenty three provinces, five autonomous regions and three
municipalities make up The People's Republic of China, the most
populated country in the world - 1.2 billion inhabitants, or
one-quarter of world's population. China is home to fifty-six
ethnic groups; the Han Chinese majority comprise 91.9 percent
of the population and occupy most positions of power, and the
minority groups Zhuang, Uyghur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu,
Mongol, Buyi, Korean, and others constitute 8.1 percent. China
has an eclectic religious and cultural composition: Buddhists
form the largest body of religious believers with an estimated
base of over 100 million followers, most from the dominant Han
ethnic group. According to official estimates, China also has
four million registered Catholics, ten to fifteen million Protestants,
and eighteen million Muslims.1
The major cultural influence is Confucianism, an ideology that
advocates gender-based division of labor and inferiority of
women2 and defines obedience and submission as the primary virtues
of a woman.3
The 1982 constitution states that the country is a "Socialist
state under the people's democratic dictatorship led by the
working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants."4 In fact, China is an authoritarian state in which the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) through the Politburo controls all political
power. Both at the national and regional levels, CCP members
hold most top government, military and law enforcement posts.
Even though the Chinese revolution granted women equality under
the law, this has not translated into the elimination of actual
inequality between men and women. Women are absent from positions
of power; for instance, they make up only 14 percent of the
CCP.5 The All-China Women's
Federation, a mass organization, supported by the party, has
input in the drafting of laws, regulations and rules concerning
women and children but lacks power to make decisions. Its primary
responsibility is to follow and promote the party line.6
Marxist ideology has been supplanted by economic pragmatism
in the last two years, and economic decentralization has increased
the power of regional officials. Despite these reforms, however,
China has remained a country in which citizens lack freedom
of expression and the right to influence or change the form
of government. The government has demonstrated that it has little
tolerance for dissent; state security police and personnel have
been responsible for numerous human rights violations.7
The Government
Jiang Zemin became president of China in February 1997 following
the death of the charismatic Communist patriarch Deng Xiaoping.
According to commentators, Jiang's rise to power symbolizes
a new type of leadership in China and ascent of a new generation
of technocratic leaders "educated as engineers and technicians
and steeped in the mores of Chinese bureaucracy."8
Both Jiang and Premier Zhu Rongji are engineers, as are six
out of seven Politburo members (one is an architect). Some observers
claim that this background implies a different style of leadership,
including decentralized and collective decision making.9
From the outset, Jiang initiated an energetic process of economic
modernization and privatization. Jiang's top adviser Lu Ji said
that "the continued rapid development of China's economy is
safeguarded by reform of the political structure," 10 but so far, his government has made little progress towards
political reform and freedom of expression.
Economy
China has a mixed fast-growing economy. According to World
Bank figures, China averages a yearly nine percent increase
of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In September 1997, Jiang
accepted from the Communist Party Congress a platform of further
privatization and modernization of the economy. The reforms
that have been implemented thus far have given more independence
to businesspeople and have limited state control over the economy
and citizens' lives. This has led to the expansion of the private
sector with an increased mobility and freedom of employment.
Although poverty levels in China have continued to decline
in recent years, many problems persist. Unemployment and underemployment
remain acute (ranging from three to ten percent according to
official figures), but some reports indicate that the situation
is more difficult in rural areas, where it reaches thirty to
fifty percent. According to various estimates, the number of
people living in poverty ranges from fifty-eight million (official
figure) to 350 million.
Worker Rights
Independent trade unions are illegal in China, and attempts
to form them are suppressed and leaders imprisoned. The All
China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) is a part of the state
apparatus; the CCP appoints all its leaders and all unions are
placed under its leadership. The 1993 ACFTU constitution describes
unions as "the link and bridge between the CCP and the working
masses." 11
China's first labor code was adopted in 1995 with the purpose
of protecting workers' rights in foreign-owned and joint-venture
companies. The law does not have a provision for the right to
strike, but it contains four new principles: provision for formal
labor contracts; arbitration, inspection and compliance with
labor regulations; allowance for collective bargaining and contracts
negotiation; and firing of workers for economic reasons without
state approval. There is, however, evidence that company owners
and managers ignore the new law, and that the unions in foreign
companies are only symbolic and are often branches of the ACFTU.
According to an ICFTU report, the Quality Clothes Factory in
Guangzhou forced employees to sign contracts to work twelve-hour
days and work overtime on demand.12
Furthermore, the authorities can use force to end any strike.
The ICFTU reported that "the National Security Law, the Regulations
on Reeducation through Labor and the Regulations on Reforms
through Labor allow activists who attempt to organize independent
labor action to be detained and imprisoned."13
Some medium and large enterprises have detention centers (laogai)
where security officials can detain protesting workers for up
to three years.14
In 1997 millions of workers lost their jobs as a result of
restructuring and huge layoffs at bankrupt state-run companies.
Workers organized and held protests and demonstrations in Nanchong,
Sichuan, Guangdong and other provinces. During the July 1997
protest at the state-owned Mianying Silk Spinning Factory and
two others that were closed down, authorities called in troops
who beat and arrested up to 100 of the demonstrators.15
Protests against state-owned companies owing back wages or unemployment
benefits continued across China in 1998. For instance, in November
1998, 500 steel workers demonstrated in the southwestern province
of Sichuan.16
Scores of independent trade union activists remained in prisons
in 1997, among them Zhou Guoqiang and Liu Nianchun, for their
involvement with the League for the Protection of the Rights
of Working People (LPRWP). Both were sentenced to three years
of forced labor.17 Several trade unionists and human rights activists, the so
called "Beijing 16," were serving prison sentences for their
involvement in the Free Labor Union of China (FLUC).18 Many labor activists who had founded the
Workers' Autonomous Federations (WAFS) in the course of the
1989 pro-democracy movement, also have remained in prisons.19
Freedom of Expression and Human Rights
The Chinese government has taken some positive steps in the
area of human rights, including the release of democracy activist
and dissident writer Wei Jingsheng, journalists Xi Yang and
Zhao Lei, and labor activists Tang Yuanjuan, Li Wei, and Zhou
Guoquang in 1997, and the signing (NOTE: not ratification) of
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
in October 1998. Despite these gestures, however, the government
has continued to crack down on dissidents seeking to broaden
public debate in China and on those trying to establish independent
political groups and research centers.20 Throughout 1997 and 1998, the government
detained several pro-democracy activists, including Zhu Yufu
and Wang Youcai, who attempted to register the Chinese Democratic
Party (CDP); the first opposition party in China) and issue
its political manifesto.21
Dozens of other CDP activists and democracy advocates were also
detained.22 Just weeks after the signing of ICCPR, the authorities closed
down the China Development Union, a think tank that sponsored
research and seminars concerning public policies. Thousands
of activists continue serving prison terms for their peaceful
political, social or religious dissent.23
Media
By the end of 1997, fifteen journalists were in prison in
China, the largest number in Asia. One of them, Gao Yu, was
serving a six-year sentence for "leaking state secrets" in financial
articles published in Mirror Monthly, a Hong Kong publication.24 She was awarded the UNESCO Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom
Prize in May 1997 over an angry reaction from Beijing.
New government press regulations that took effect in February
1997 prohibit the publication of anything that challenges China's
constitution, reveals "state secrets," and "harm[s] national
security."25 The broad
definition of a "state secret" can be applied to any political
or economic information that has not been approved for publishing
or broadcasting in the state media. This nebulous and far-reaching
definition gives officials a powerful tool that can be used
against anybody viewed as a critic or threat to the government.
Officials routinely jam Voice of America and Radio Free Asia
broadcasts, and dissidents are prohibited from speaking to the
foreign press.26 China's authorities have expelled foreign
journalists for their critical reporting of the government.
In October 1997, China deported a reporter from the Japanese
newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun for the "possession of state secrets,"27 and a month later, a German journalist from
Der Spiegel was arrested on the same charge and ordered to leave
the country within forty eight hours.28
In December 1997, authorities announced new regulations to
restrict the rapidly growing use of the Internet. They justified
this control of information as necessary to prevent "splitting
the country" or "defaming government agencies." The regulations
impose "criminal penalties" and fines of up to US $1,800 on
violators. In the past, China had blocked access to World Wide
Web sites run by news organizations, dissidents, and human rights
groups abroad. In June 1997, in response to the launching of
a Chinese version of the on-line Catholic news service Fides,
the government issued a warning to the Vatican not to use media
to interfere with its religious affairs policies.29
NGOs
There are no independent domestic Chinese NGOs that openly
monitor or comment on the human rights situation. The government
has been unresponsive to foreign and international human rights
organizations' criticism of the country's human rights situation.
It routinely attacks such reports on the grounds that they interfere
with China's internal affairs and present an inaccurate picture
of the situation. Though China recently acknowledged the universality
of human rights and of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
it still often publicly maintains the legitimacy of a relativist
approach to human rights, in which each country's particular
history, social situation and the level of economic development
defines how a government defines human rights.
Girl-Child: Infanticide/Orphanages
There exist reports of female infanticide, and with increased
use of ultrasound to determine sex, decisions to terminate pregnancies
of female fetuses. According to 1994 figures, despite legal
penalties, the number of children abandoned in China annually
approached 1.7 million. The majority of those admitted to orphanages
are female or disabled, and virtually all children put up for
foreign adoption are girls. There have been reports of deplorable
conditions and mistreatment of children in orphanages, including
inadequate nutrition and care and instances of refusal to provide
medical treatment resulting in death.30
Minorities
China's fifty-five ethnic minorities make up about eight percent
of the population (108.46 million). Although the government
has pledged to increase minority representation in the government
and the CCP, they still are excluded from decision-making positions.
For example, even in some regions of Xinjiang, an area with
almost 100 percent Uyghur population, the local party secretary
position is reserved for a Han Chinese.
Many of the development's development policies have resulted
in the disruption of traditional living patterns of minority
groups, particularly Tibetans (see section below) and the Muslim
Uyghur majority of western Xinjiang. Since 1947, China's economic
policy has resulted in a large migration of Han Chinese to Xinjiang.
As a result, the ratio of Han-Uyghur in the capital city of
Urumqi shifted from 20:80 to 80:20, and Han control over the
region's political and economic institutions was solidified.31
The Chinese authorities have continued a crackdown on religious
practice in Xinjiang. In February 1997, a group of women in
Yining was dispersed by the police during the Ramadan festival.
Tibet
The Chinese government controls all access to and information
about the Tibet Autonomous Region. According to numerous reports,
however, the preservation of the unique cultural and religious
heritage of Tibet and the human rights situation remain of serious
concern. There are many reports of torture, arbitrary arrest
and detention without trial of Tibetan nationalists who express
their views peacefully.32 The government prohibits and suppresses
any public activity that it considers to be a potential channel
for political dissent.
In the last four years, the government has tried to tighten
its grip over Tibetan monasteries, which it considers to be
the centers of opposition to Chinese rule.33
There have been reports of imprisonment and torture of monks
and nuns accused of political activism. The government has reduced
the allowed number of monks who can matriculate into monasteries
and has continued the campaign to reeducate monks and nuns.
Monks are also required to denounce the Dalai Lama and declare
patriotic allegiance to China upon entering monasteries. Although
monasteries are still officially led by abbots elected by the
monks, they are now required to answer directly to CCP authorities.34
The government has also launched an unsuccessful campaign to
discredit the Dalai Lama as a religious leader under the slogan
"Buddhism must conform to Socialism and not Socialism to Buddhism."
Although Tibetans received preferential treatment in marriage
and family planning policies, they experience discrimination,
particularly in employment. The Chinese government heavily subsidizes
Tibet's economy; at present China provides funds for over ninety
percent of Tibet's budget, making it overly dependent. At the
same time, lax economic and tax policies have caused a massive
influx of ethnic Han and Hui into the region. The new immigrants
often displace Tibetan labor and businesses. This changing pattern
of development and expanding tourism has threatened the natural
environment and the indigenous culture and traditions of Tibet.35
HONG KONG
China resumed control over Hong Kong on 1 July 1997. After
more than 150 years of British colonial rule, Hong Kong became
a "Special Administrative Region" of China.36
According to the December 1984 Chinese-British Joint Declaration
on the handover, Hong Kong would retain a high degree of autonomy
in all matters except foreign affairs and defense matters, and
maintain its political, economic and judicial systems for fifty
years.37 Although the transfer resulted in some significant
changes, such as the disbanding of the elected pre-reversion
Legislative Council, most institutions and the large majority
of the senior civil servants who oversee the daily operations
have remained the same.
The principal human rights problems have included the use
of excessive force by the police against detainees, media self-censorship,
limitations on public dissent, violence and discrimination against
women, and discrimination against the disabled and ethnic minorities.
The outgoing government was criticized by Hong Kong-based and
international human rights monitoring organizations for opposing
proposals to adopt laws against race, age and sexual orientation
discrimination.
STATUS OF WOMEN IN CHINA UNDER SPECIFIC CEDAW ARTICLES:
ARTICLE 2 - MEASURES TO ELIMINATE DISCRIMINATION
The 1992 Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests
(Fun Quanyi Baozhang Fa) appears to be quite progressive as
compared to women's rights legislation in other countries. However,
as Jonathan Hecht of the East Asian Legal Studies Program at
Harvard Law School argues, it is not an innovation, as most
of its provisions are drawn from earlier legislation on marriage,
inheritance, education and labor. Despite official declarations
that it would provide a powerful vehicle for protection of women's
rights, the law is more normative than remedial. It provides
a set of principles to be observed, but claims of violations
must be pursued through an administrative system that rests
on the discretion of the state.
A woman whose rights have been violated must bring her claim
to the relevant government authority, which may pursue the claim
at its discretion. The All-China Women's Federation may be called
on as advocate, but the Federation is itself an arm of the state
system. If the claim could be prosecuted as a crime and the
state prosecutor refuses to follow through, the woman has no
civil remedies. If the violator is a state enterprise, enforcement
must be through the administrative system of that enterprise-a
clear conflict of interest. And if it is a private enterprise,
there is no administrative system to deal with claims at all.
Because the judicial system is relatively undeveloped, and
to the extent that it has been developed deals primarily with
commercial claims, it does not provide an avenue of redress.
Moreover, the Equality Law itself limits the claims that may
be made in a court proceeding. Women can only sue if the violation
would constitute a claim under another statute-and those are
few.38
The Equality Law is a product of China's pre-enterprise era.
With decentralization and privatization of enterprise, and increased
population mobility, the structures that could have enforced
the law through moral persuasion or control of resources have
weakened. The Equality Law is due for a reexamination to develop
remedies that are workable in the current economic and political
climate.
ARTICLE 3 - BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS ON
AN EQUAL BASIS WITH MEN
Detention Centers and Prisons
According to the June 1995 Amnesty International Report on
female prisoners of conscience in China (including political
and religious prisoners), women in custody suffer much of the
same ill-treatment as male detainees, including degrading conditions
and torture to extract confessions. In addition, however, women
have also been subjected to sexual assault and rape. Although
Chinese legislation includes provisions aimed at protecting
women against sexual attacks in detention, these protections
often fail in practice, particularly at the local level.39
ARTICLE 6 - PROSTITUTION AND TRAFFICKING
According to various reports, eighty percent of massage parlors
in Beijing offer sexual services, and the government's efforts
to eliminate the situation have proven ineffective. The increased
commercialization of sex and resulting trafficking in women
has made the situation worse, and it is often accompanied by
an explanation by officials that it is "an unfortunate by product
of a free-market economy."40
Evidence indicates that in many cases organized crime groups,
business people, the police and military may be involved in
the sex business. According to 1996 reports, police owned and
operated brothels employing 70,000 prostitutes in the Shanxi
province. 41
ARTICLE 7 - POLITICAL AND PUBLIC LIFE
Although women have the right to vote in village committee
elections, only a small fraction of elected representatives
are female. Women constitute twenty-one percent of the National
People's Congress. They continue to be absent from positions
of influence in the CCP and government structures. There is
only one woman in the Politburo, and women occupy only three
out of forty-one ministerial posts.42
ARTICLE 10 - EDUCATION
Seventy percent of China's illiterate are female. The 1996
five-year plan for the Advancement of Women made it a priority
to increase the literacy of rural women, of whom eighty percent
are illiterate. Critics question the government's ability to
implement this program, as minimal funding has been allocated
to these programs.
In China, still a relatively small percentage of the population
(5 million) obtains a university-level education. Women constituted
only 36.4 percent of university students in 1996.43
ARTICLE 11 - EMPLOYMENT
Women continue to report gender - as well as age-based discrimination
in the workplace, including wrongful dismissal, demotions and
wage gaps. Women are the majority of victims of economic restructuring.
According to press reports, in 1997, while they accounted for
only forty percent of China's work force, women constituted
about sixty percent of all laid-off employees.44
Women between thirty-five and fifty years old were the most
affected, as they were far more likely to be laid off and less
likely to find a new job than any other group. Female employees
were also the first to receive pay reductions when companies
experienced financial difficulties.45 After one year, seventy-five percent of
laid-off women had not found employment (compared to fewer than
fifty percent of men). Local authorities have organized courses
for women to help them develop new skills but, according to
sociologist Ching Kwan Lee,46
the types of skills offered (as beauticians, seamstresses, domestic
helpers, child care providers), only reinforce gender stereotypes.
Press reports indicate that companies are increasingly allowed
to discriminate by sex and age even though such practices violate
labor laws. According to one study conducted at the Tianjin
job fair, ninety-seven out of 100 companies stipulated that
only women under thirty years of age could apply. The press
reports that in addition to sex and age, employment ads often
specify height and other body characteristics of the "desired"
female applicant. Some companies exclude women from specific
positions because they consider jobs involving travel or work
in rural areas too hard for women.47 In addition, many employers prefer to hire
men in order to avoid paying for maternity leave and child care.
Although the official retirement age in China is sixty for men
and fifty-five for women, some companies lower the retirement
age for women to forty years. Despite laws providing the same
wages for men and women, according to a 1990 survey, on average
women's salaries constituted seventy-seven percent of men's
salaries.48
Women in the Media
According to a recent survey, even though one-third of Chinese
journalists are women and they have the same level of technical
and computer skills as their male counterparts, only five percent
of them occupy leadership posts in Chinese mass media.49
ARTICLE 14 - RURAL WOMEN
Suicide
China is the only country in the world where more women than
men commit suicide. According to data gathered by UN World Health
Organization and Harvard University, 56.6 percent of all female
suicides worldwide occur in China (twenty-one percent of world's
female population lives in China), five times more than the
world average. According to Canadian psychiatrist Michael Phillips,
the suicide rate for rural women is three times larger than
that of the urban women. According to Phillips, the main contributing
factors are that seventy percent of rural women work in the
fields and lead overburdened, poverty-stricken lives. In addition,
rural women do not have access to support services, as suicide
hot lines and counseling are available only the urban centers.50
Bride Selling
According to press reports, the predominantly rural custom
of bride-selling has returned to China. The marriage brokers,
slave dealers, obtain women by either kidnapping or purchasing
them from poor peasants. Between 1991-1996, police liberated
88,000 kidnapped women and children and arrested 143,000 people
involved in the slave trade.51
ARTICLE 16 - MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LAW
Family Planning
Despite some signs of relaxation, the Chinese government continues
to implement a comprehensive and intrusive family planning program
which requires permits to have a child and imposes stiff fines
for additional children. The system places the burden mainly
on women, and, at the same time, leaves them with no contraception
choices except the IUD, sterilization and abortion.52
The government relies on education, propaganda and economic
incentives, but it also often uses coercion such as psychological
pressure and economic penalties (fines, withholding of social
services, demotion, loss of employment, etc.). The State Planning
Commission, with the assistance of the Family Planning Association
(with eighty-three million members in 1.02 million branches)
implements the "one-child policy."53
Couples in urban areas are most affected by the policy. With
the exception of Shanghai and the coastal region of northern
Zhejiang province, families are required to obtain permission
to have their first child and are often denied permission to
have a second one. Rural residents (seventy percent of the population)
are allowed to have a second child if the first is a girl (based
on demands of farm labor and the traditional preference for
boys). The controls are least stringent in rural areas and in
some minority groups, such as the Tibetans and the Muslim Uyghurs.
According to 1996 data, over twenty-four million fines were
collected in the period between 1985 and 1993 for children born
outside family planning regulations. In cases of unpaid fines,
the government confiscated or destroyed homes or personal property.
In certain cases families can have an additional child if they
pay a high fee, which in Zhejiang constituted twenty percent
of parents' combined salary for five years.54
Although the authorities prohibit the use of force in submitting
a woman to an abortion or sterilization, poor supervision has
resulted in abuses by local officials who force women to undergo
the procedures in order to meet state-imposed quotas. Women
have an IUD inserted after they give birth to their first child
and are sterilized following the birth of the second child.
In 1997, only thirty-nine percent of women who required to undergo
tubal litigation had been given counseling.55 Many deaths are suspected as result of these
operations. In September 1997, a woman's death in Changbo, Guangdong
province, was attributed to an intrauterine device that had
been inserted as part of the program.
Although terminating pregnancy based on the sex of the fetus
is prohibited, some families have used ultrasound to identify
female fetuses. The World Health Organization estimates that
the male to female birth ratio is 117 to 100 in China as a result
of the strict family planning regulations and the traditional
preference for boys. Although it is believed that these statistics
reflect both the abuse of sonography and the fact that many
female births may be unreported to allow parents to try to conceive
a boy, female infanticide, abandonment, or neglect of baby girls
has occurred in some areas.
New Draft Divorce Law
The divorce rate in China is on the rise and it currently
stands at twelve for every 100 marriages. This trend led to
efforts, beginning in 1996, to update the 1980 marriage law.
One of the authors of the new draft law, Xu Weihua of the All-China
Women's Federation, stated that the existing law does not adequately
protect women's rights in the event of divorce, resulting in
many becoming single mothers and poor. But the draft law, which
was publicized by the press in August 1998, has caused controversy
even among women. It would make divorce more difficult and provides
for punishment of adulterers. While many support stronger rules
on property settlement and provisions for child support, some
women's rights advocates criticized the draft law because of
its "punitive spirit" and provisions for the government's interference
in private lives.56 While
the 1980 marriage law made it easy to obtain divorce on the
ground of "alienation of affection," the new one would add grounds
such as adultery, one party's alcoholism and spousal abuse.
GENERAL RECOMMENDATION No. 19 (ARTICLES 2,5,11,12 AND 16)
- VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
According to the official Chinese news agency Xinhua, instances
of kidnapping of women and other forms of violence against women
resulting from "unequal economic status of men and women, sex
discrimination and women's low level of education"57
are on the rise in China.
Abductions
According to several reports, kidnapping and the sale of women
for marriage and prostitution have been serious problems in
China despite severe punishment (including death) provided by
law. The primary motive suggested for abduction and sale of
women is the sex-ratio imbalance, resulting in a considerable
shortage of women in many areas. But there have been cases of
abduction also in provinces where the male- female ratio is
balanced, such as Sichuan and Guangxi. According to a 1995 estimate,
tens of thousands of women are sold into slavery each year.
In 1995, the press reported instances of kidnappings from
a market in Xian and from markets and bus stops in other cities.
According to the reports, the selling of women was a problem
mainly in rural areas. The reports alleged that the problem
was to be blamed partly on local officials who would ignore
the abductions or even participate in the trade.58
Domestic Violence
Although no detailed research on the extent of physical violence
against women has been conducted in China, evidence that domestic
violence has been increasing has resulted in greater interest
in and attention to the problem. According to some surveys,
twenty percent of women may have been physically abused by their
husbands.59 The All China Women's Federation claims that 8.2 percent
of Chinese women have been victims of family violence at least
once.
While violence can be grounds for prosecution under Chinese
law, there is no specific national spousal abuse law. Despite
efforts by some localities and NGOs to draw attention to the
issue and increase awareness, efforts have been constrained
by lack of funds. For instance, the Shanghai women's shelter
was closed after a year when money ran out, and a women's abuse
hot line in Beijing stopped functioning for the same reason.
As of the end of June 1998, the New Sun Marriage Shelter, a
self-funded safe house for battered women in the central Wuhan
province, was the only shelter of this kind in China.60
Sexual Harassment
The problems of sexual harassment in the workplace and gender
preference in hiring are not addressed by law or policy. The
Chinese press, however, reported in July 1998 that the National
People's Congress was debating a new sexual harassment law to
protect women in the workplace.61
ACTIONS BY OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS TREATY BODIES PERTAINING TO
WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS:
Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination : China. 27/09/96. CERD/C/304/Add.15.
Concerns, Recommendations and Suggestions:
- Concern at the
lack of protective legal provisions for minority groups that
are scattered throughout China, as well as the absence of
information regarding these minorities' enjoyment of rights
enumerated in the Convention.
- Concern about
reports on incentives granted to members of the Han nationality
to settle in autonomous areas, as this may result in substantial
changes in the demographic composition and in the character
of the local society of those areas.
- Concerns about
the actual enjoyment of the right to freedom of religion in
China, particularly in the Muslim parts of Xinjiang and in
Tibet, including the preservation of places of worship and
the exercise of religious rights by members of all ethnic
groups.
- Underrepresentation
of minority groups in business, secondary school and university
levels, as well as reports of inadequate work conditions and
access to economic, social and cultural benefits of ethnic
minorities compared to members of the Han group.
- Make all acts
of racial discrimination punishable by law.
- Include more members
of minority nationalities in positions of leadership in the
government and in the Party and at the national and local
levels.
- Compile statistical
and demographic information on the composition of the population,
the geographic distribution of minorities and the standard
of living and other educational and social criteria with regard
to those groups.
- Provide information
on allegations of destruction by the government of mosques,
Buddhist and Lama temples and other places of worship of minority
nationalities.
- Take all necessary
legal and administrative measures to ensure that there is
no discrimination against members of minority nationalities,
either in the public service or private employment.
Concluding Observations
of the Committee Against Torture: China: China. 09/07/96. A/51/44,
paras. 138-150.
Concerns and Recommendations:
- According to information
supplied by non-governmental organizations, torture may be
practiced on a widespread basis in China, yet China has not
incorporated the crime of torture into the domestic legal
system, in terms consistent with the Convention.
- Establish a system
to review, investigate and effectively address complaints
of maltreatment, by those in custody of every sort.
- Guarantee access
to legal counsel for all those detained, arrested or imprisoned;
ensure access to the family and a medical doctor.
- Non-governmental
organizations documented that the situation in Tibet continues
to create conditions that result in alleged maltreatment and
death of persons held in policy custody and prisons.
- China should consider
cooperating in the rehabilitation of torture victims by supporting
the establishment of a Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims
in Beijing or some other large cities of the country.
- A comprehensive
system should be established to review, investigate and effectively
deal with complaints of maltreatment, by those in custody
of every sort. If the Procuratorate is the body that carries
out the investigations, it should be given the necessary jurisdiction
to carry out its functions, even over the objections of the
organ that it is investigating.
- Take all necessary
measures to ensure the independence, autonomy and professionalism
of the judiciary.
Concluding observations
of the Committee on the Rights of the Child : China. 07/06/96.
CRC/C/15/Add.56.
Suggestions and
Recommendations:
- Family planning
policy must be designed to avoid any threat to the life of
children, particularly girls; clear guidance should be given
to the population and the personnel involved in the family
planning policy to ensure its aims are in accordance with
principles and provisions of the Convention.
- Take further action
for the maintenance of strong and comprehensive measures to
combat the abandonment and infanticide of girls as well as
the trafficking, sale and kidnapping or abduction of girls.
- Increase efforts
to prevent and eliminate discrimination of the girl child.
Invite local and other leaders to take a more active role
in supporting the efforts to prevent and eliminate discrimination
against the girl child and to provide guidance to communities
in this regard.
- Establish an independent
institution such as an Ombudsperson for children's rights
to monitor institutions working in the field of the rights
of the child, including in the areas of welfare, education
and juvenile justice, as well as identifying emerging problems
in these field with a view toward solving them.
- Develop necessary
institutions to collect statistical data and other information
on the status of children.
- Incorporate Convention
provisions into existing training programs for professional
social service providers working with children.
- Pay greater attention
to the provision of social security to avoid families' over-dependence
on their children.
- Undertake a comprehensive
review of the domestic legal framework to ensure that legislation
on the national and local levels conforms to Convention.
- Conduct research
on the measures required to prevent and combat discrimination
on the grounds of disability.
Endnotes:
1
US Department of State, China Country Report on Human Rights
Practices for 1997 (Washington, DC: Bureau of Democracy, Human
Rights, and Labor, 30 January 1998). back
2
Young-hee Shim, "Gender and Body Politics in Korea: Focusing
on the Making of the Feminine Body," Asian Women vol. 6 (June
1998): 34. back
3
Quoted in Yue Daiyun and Li Jin, "Women's Life in New China,
" In Barbara J. Nelson and Najma Chowdhury, eds., Women and
Politics Worldwide (New Heaven: Yale University Press, 1994),
164. back
4
Yue Daiyun and Li Jin, "Women's Life in New China, " In
Barbara J. Nelson and Najma Chowdhury, eds., Women and Politics
Worldwide (New Heaven: Yale University Press, 1994), 162.
back
5
Quoted in Yue Daiyun and Li Jin, "Women's Life in New China,
" In Barbara J. Nelson and Najma Chowdhury, eds., Women and
Politics Worldwide (New Heaven: Yale University Press, 1994),
164. back
6
Yue Daiyun and Li Jin, "Women's Life in New China," 163.
back
7
US Department of State, China Country Report on Human Rights
Practices for 1997. back
8
Michel Oksenberg, "China's Political Transformation," In
Congressional Program vol. 13, no. 2 (U.S.-China Relations,
First Conference, 13-17 April 1998) (Washington, D.C.: Aspen
Institute):20. back
9
James Kynge,"Reform Reaches Top Level," Financial Times
(London), 16 November 1998, Nexis, 20 November 1998. back
10
Quoted in Committee to Protect Journalists, Country Reports
1997: China, available from: http://www.cpj.org, accessed on
23 October 1998. back
11
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 1998
Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Right: China (Brussels:
ICFTU, 1998): 78-83. back
12
Ibid. back
13
Ibid., 79. back
14
Ibid., 78-83. back
15
Ibid., 80. back
16
"Chinese Protest Ends With Arrests," New York Times, on-line,
2 November 1998. back
17
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 81.
back
18
Ibid., 81. back
19
Ibid., 82. back
20
"China's Words and Actions," Providence Journal-Bulletin,
11 November 1998, on-line, Nexis, 29 November 1998. back
21
Index on Censorship: China, available from http://www.oneworld.org/index_oc/ii/iintro.html,
accessed on 12 November 1998. back
22
China's Words and Actions." back
23
US Department of State, China Country Report on Human Rights
Practices for 1997. back
24
Quoted in Committee to Protect Journalists, Country Reports
1997: China, available from: http://www.cpj.org, accessed on
23 October 1998. back
25
Ibid. back
26
US Department of State, China Country Report on Human Rights
Practices for 1997. back
27
Erik Eckholm, "Beijing to Expel Foreign Reporter, 2d in
a Month," New York Times, on-line, 19 November 1998. back
28
"Chiny wydalily niemieckiego dziennikarza," Rzeczpospolita
On-line (Warsaw, Poland), 18 November 1998, available from http://www.rzeczpospolita.pl.
back
29
Index on Censorship: China. back
30
US Department of State, China Country Report on Human Rights
Practices for 1997. back
31
Ibid. back
32
Ibid. back
33
Seth Faison, "Icy Wind From Beijing Chills the Monks of
Tibet," New York Times, 18 November 1998, on-line. back
34
Ibid. back
35
US Department of State, China Country Report on Human Rights
Practices for 1997. back
36
Ibid. back
37
US Department of State, Background Notes: Hong Kong (Washington,
DC: Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, November 1997),
on-line, available from http://www.state.gov/www/background_notes/hong_kong_971100_bgn.html,
accessed on 30 November 1998. back
38
"The Legal Protection of Women's Rights in China: Discretionary
Enforcement of Human Rights Norms," China Rights Forum (Fall
1995), available from http://www.igc.apc.org.hric./crf, accessed
on 30 November 1998. back
39
"Women in China: Imprisoned and Abused for Dissent," Amnesty
International, In China Rights Forum (Fall 1995), available
from http://www.igc.apc.org/hric/, accessed on 30 November 1998.
back
40
US Department of State, Background Notes: Hong Kong.
back
41
Susan Brownmiller, "China Dolls and Dragon Ladies: American
Images of Asian Women," Asian Women vol. 6 (June 1998): 159.
back
42
US Department of State, China Country Report on Human Rights
Practices for 1997 (Washington, DC: Bureau of Democracy, Human
Rights, and Labor, 30 January 1998). back
43
Ibid. back
44
"China 200 Women Talk About Employment Experiences," Asia
Intelligence Wire/China Daily, 28 May 1998, Nexis, 12 November
1998. back
45
Elizabeth Rosenthal, "In China, 35+ and Female = Unemployable,"
New York Times, on-line, 13 October 1998. back
46
Quoted in Elizabeth Rosenthal, "In China, 35+ and Female
= Unemployable." back
47
Elizabeth Rosenthal, "In China, 35+ and Female = Unemployable."
back
48
Ibid. back
49
"Little Gender Difference Among Chinese Net-using Journalists,"
Xinhua News Agency, 23 May 1998, Nexis, 12 November 1998.
back
50
"An Epidemic of Despair," World Press Review (July 1998),
received from . back
51
Dorinda Elliott, "Trying to Stand on Two Feet. Women: They
Have More Personal Rights Now - But the Cost Can Be Brutal,"
Newsweek, 29 June 1998, received from
. back
52
Elizabeth Rosenthal, "In China, 35+ and Female = Unemployable."
back
53
US Department of State, China Country Report on Human Rights
Practices for 1997. back
54
Elizabeth Rosenthal, "For One-Child Policy, China Rethinks
Iron Hand," New York Times, 1 November 1998. back
55
Ibid. back
56
Erik Eckholm, "Divorce Curb Is Dividing Feminists in China,"
New York Times, on-line, 18 November 1998. back
57
"Protecting Chinese Women Against Violence," Xinhua News
Agency, 20 June 1998, Nexis, 12 November 1998. back
58
Seth Faison, "Women as Chattel: In China, Slavery Rise,"
New York Times, on line, 6 September 1995. back
59
US Department of State, China Country Report on Human Rights
Practices for 1997. back
60
Dorinda Elliott, "Trying to Stand on Two Feet. Women: They
Have More Personal Rights Now - But the Cost Can Be Brutal,"
Newsweek, 29 June 1998, received from
. back
61
"China: Sexual Harassment Legislation," Beijing-Conference
Digest vol. 2, no. 360, 31 July 1998, received from .
back
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