2008 Woodie Awards
The Hypocrisy of Chinese Human Rights
Kelsey Field
Issue date: 2/17/06 Section: Opinions
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As the Iraq war rages on and Bush makes his millionth statement about how we are liberating the people from an oppressive government, and how other countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia are next because the United States will not tolerate such gross human rights violations, I have to wonder where China lies. If you are going to claim what we are doing is in the name of democracy and to protect the inalienable rights of all people, not just Americans, you're going to have to include China, or you are just spouting off hypocrisy. Yes, China has improved drastically since Mao, but does that really justify their human rights violations that continue today? According to Freedom in the World, 60% of the global population that lives in non-free countries, which is roughly around 1.6 billion people, is in the People's Republic of China. But as a major US trade partner, and a country that holds a large portion of US debt, we apparently can't bring up subjects as sensitive as human rights. And by remaining silent about China, while publicly stuttering about the Middle East, we are essentially giving permission to China to keep up the "good work," as long as it doesn't begin to interfere with our international trade agreements.
Ignorance of major tyrannical leaders is not immune to just the Bush regime. In fact, within the last week there has been wide spread demands for reformation of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, with a new draft circulating around New York's diplomats. China's human rights violations are most noted in torture and mistreatment of prisoners, forced confessions, repressed freedom of speech, the press, assembly, association, religion, privacy, and worker's rights. As noted by the Freedom House, China is considered one of the worst human rights abusers, along with Cuba, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Zimbabwe, but you really wouldn't know that, based on the amicable relations between the United States, the United Nations and China.
China's restrictions on human rights are blatant. Although their 1982 constitution stipulates that the citizens have the freedom and expression of the press, the preamble mandates adherence to the four basic principles-China's leadership, socialism, dictatorship of the proletariat and Marxism-Leninism Mao Zedong thought. This is all controlled by strict measures against international news collaboration and severe censorship laws, which require an "80% positive and 20% negative" ratio. Religion is another hot spot, where only the four state recognized religions are allowed-Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity and Islam. Not to mention their torture methods, that continue today in prisons, many of which are very well documented. And this all ignores the fact that China is part of the UN Convention Against Torture, joining in 1988. And just to make you think of Mao's China is the death penalty that is used for crimes such as theft and embezzlement. In fact, China accounts for 77% of all death sentences carried out in the world; on January 9th, 1993, 356 death sentences were passed down by Chinese courts. And the statistics are steadily increasing. But the real kicker is Tibet, the shining emblem that really emphasizes the human rights violations in China that other superpowers are not willing to talk about. Peaceful marches asking for their freedom have resulted in hundreds of arrests, with high rates of torture and ill treatment, most notably against women, occurring in the jails.
Lately, the controversy in China has been the incarceration of "dissidents," who post their thoughts on message boards online through Yahoo and Google. Both American companies have earned the disgust of many human rights organizations and politicians, who are now working on making the companies unusable in China because their policies violate the right to privacy-though I think this is at the bottom of major human rights issues. Perhaps instead jail those who are selling women online or promoting those great "vacations" to places like China to take part in really cultural activities, such as sex with a 14 year old prostitute.
Ignorance of major tyrannical leaders is not immune to just the Bush regime. In fact, within the last week there has been wide spread demands for reformation of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, with a new draft circulating around New York's diplomats. China's human rights violations are most noted in torture and mistreatment of prisoners, forced confessions, repressed freedom of speech, the press, assembly, association, religion, privacy, and worker's rights. As noted by the Freedom House, China is considered one of the worst human rights abusers, along with Cuba, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Zimbabwe, but you really wouldn't know that, based on the amicable relations between the United States, the United Nations and China.
China's restrictions on human rights are blatant. Although their 1982 constitution stipulates that the citizens have the freedom and expression of the press, the preamble mandates adherence to the four basic principles-China's leadership, socialism, dictatorship of the proletariat and Marxism-Leninism Mao Zedong thought. This is all controlled by strict measures against international news collaboration and severe censorship laws, which require an "80% positive and 20% negative" ratio. Religion is another hot spot, where only the four state recognized religions are allowed-Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity and Islam. Not to mention their torture methods, that continue today in prisons, many of which are very well documented. And this all ignores the fact that China is part of the UN Convention Against Torture, joining in 1988. And just to make you think of Mao's China is the death penalty that is used for crimes such as theft and embezzlement. In fact, China accounts for 77% of all death sentences carried out in the world; on January 9th, 1993, 356 death sentences were passed down by Chinese courts. And the statistics are steadily increasing. But the real kicker is Tibet, the shining emblem that really emphasizes the human rights violations in China that other superpowers are not willing to talk about. Peaceful marches asking for their freedom have resulted in hundreds of arrests, with high rates of torture and ill treatment, most notably against women, occurring in the jails.
Lately, the controversy in China has been the incarceration of "dissidents," who post their thoughts on message boards online through Yahoo and Google. Both American companies have earned the disgust of many human rights organizations and politicians, who are now working on making the companies unusable in China because their policies violate the right to privacy-though I think this is at the bottom of major human rights issues. Perhaps instead jail those who are selling women online or promoting those great "vacations" to places like China to take part in really cultural activities, such as sex with a 14 year old prostitute.