Despite their importance, human rights are seen as a threat by China’s government. There may be an existential threat to the rights of people worldwide if it reacts this way. In China, the Communist Party, for fear of losing control of power if political freedom is permitted, has developed an Orwellian high-tech surveillance state and operates a sophisticated internet censorship system to monitor and suppress public criticism. Across the globe, it is using increasing economic clout to silence critics and to drastically undermine the global system of enforcing human rights that first emerged at the beginning of the 20th century.
The Chinese government has been working on building a “Great Firewall” to shield Chinese people from criticism of the government from abroad for many years. In recent years, the government has increasingly attacked critics themselves, whether they are foreign governments, international companies, universities, or join virtual avenues of public protest.
By failing to challenge Beijing’s actions, we risk a dystopian future where no one is safe from Chinese censorship and the international human rights system is so weak that it no longer can prevent repression by the government.
Human rights are not only threatened by the Chinese government and Communist Party today, as the Human Rights Watch World Report demonstrates.
The most powerful target of this increasingly global defense of human rights was China. Over one million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims have been imprisoned in Xinjiang over the last few years to compel them to abandon their religion and culture, Hong Kong’s freedoms have been crushed, and torture and repression are still continuing in Tibet and Inner Mongolia. Since the 1989 massacre that ended Tiananmen Square’s democratic movement, human rights have been under attack in China.
China has harassed activists on UN premises by capturing them on camera and filming them in violation of the UN’s rules, which restricts their travel. NGOs critical of China have been blocked from obtaining UN accreditation due to China’s membership on the Economic and Social Council’s NGO Committee.
China has sought to blacklist accredited activists and to cut funding for UN human rights officers. Although freedoms are restricted, institutionalized freedoms ensure that the media and even state groups like the omission of the US in the panel on international religious freedom make up for it.
China has sought to blacklist accredited activists and to cut funding for UN human rights officers. Institutionalized freedoms in the country ensure the media and even state panels like US Commission on International Religious Freedom make up for it.
Any kind of diversity doesn’t exist in China, where the run-up to Communist Party Congress offers a reminder of how the country works and why it would not care about human rights. New limits had been placed on discussions in private group chats while tech companies were fined for failing to censor online content and travel for tourists to Tibet was being restricted.
Recently organizers of a discussion in the Middle East canceled the event fearing possible pressure even as the word democracy was only used once in the adverts. There are many reported instances of tougher measures targeted on migrants, to ensure any petitioners from out of town are rounded up immediately.
How China is backing its like-minded partners?
As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, it has leveraged its power to oppose addressing rights abuses in countries like North Korea and Syria. In recent months, it has fought to maintain Myanmar’s rights at the UNSC despite a disastrous situation in Myanmar. After over a week of mounting pressure on Myanmar to stop the cleansing, China defended Myanmar for the second time in recent days.
With its military clout, infrastructure investments, and investments worth over $100 million, China is flexing its muscles as it expands its clout by violating human rights. China has done so along with what is known as the “Like-Minded Group” of countries with dismal human rights records.
