International Human Rights Day 2017

The Embassy of Ireland supports the following Local Statement by the Delegation of the European Union in Beijing on the occasion of International Human Rights Day 2017:

Local Statement by the Delegation of the European Union on International Human Rights Day

On 10 December the international community marks the anniversary of the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This Declaration, which all UN members including China have agreed to uphold, states that each and every one of us has the right to freedom of thought, freedom of religion and belief, freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

Here in Beijing, each of us continues to witness first-hand China's success in improving the lives of its citizens. We witness, for example, the significant improvements in the Chinese people's standard of living and in access to social services such as health and education. We also witness improvements in the sphere of some civil rights, such as a continuing effort to combat and prevent domestic violence. We welcome the commitment by the Chinese authorities to ensure legal representation for greater numbers of criminal defendants, and we hope that the new system that will replace the shuanggui system will ensure basic rights for all civil servants, including the right to legal representation.

However, we remain extremely concerned about China's ongoing denial to its citizens of other fundamental human rights under the Declaration. During the past year, we have been deeply troubled by the deterioration of the situation with respect to freedom of information and freedom of expression and association, including with respect to online activity. The arrest, detention and conviction of human rights defenders, lawyers and other citizens exercising fundamental human rights, such as freedom of religion and belief, including in Xinjiang and Tibet, have continued. We regret the death in detention of 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo, and are also concerned about the recent conviction of human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong and the detention of human rights defenders Ilham Tohti, Wang Quanzhang, Wu Gan, Tashi Wangchuk, Li Yuhan and Huang Qi, each of whom was detained in connection with their promotion of fundamental human rights. We call for China to immediately end the detention and harassment of these and other Chinese citizens and human rights defenders and their family members. All criminal defendants should have access to lawyers of their own choosing and to their family members, and should not be subjected to forced and public confessions, torture or other mistreatment. While recognising the progress made in registering foreign NGOs during 2017, we also call on China to make additional efforts to allow foreign and domestic NGOs to register and operate freely and effectively. Finally, we continue to be concerned about the lack of effective implementation of China's Criminal Procedure Law, as well as the adoption of laws which are incompatible with China's other obligations and international commitments.

All of us know from first-hand experience the difficult and never-ending work of promoting and protecting the full spectrum of human rights. The Chinese authorities have made commitments to promote law-based governance and the creation of a modern and prosperous society. The respect and promotion of the full range of human rights is not only consistent with these aims, but in our view necessary for their full achievement. In the coming year, a core part of our engagement will include working with China to promote human rights under the Universal Declaration.

12月10日是国际社会纪念《世界人权宣言》通过的纪念日。这一宣言是所有联合国成员国通过的，包括中国在内，其阐述我们每一个人都应享有思想自由、宗教信仰自由、言论自由与和平集会和结社自由的权利。

在北京，我们每个人都仍然亲眼见证着中国在改善人民生活方面取得的成就。例如，我们见证了中国人民生活水平与获得卫生和教育等社会服务方面的重大进步。我们也看到一些公民权利方面的进步，比如不断努力打击和防止家庭暴力。我们欢迎中国政府承诺确保更多的刑事被告人享有法律辩护权，并希望取代“双规”制度的新制度将确保所有公务员的基本权利，包括拥有法律辩护的权利。

然而，我们高度关切中国目前拒绝其公民享有《宣言》所阐述的其他基本人权。在过去的一年里，我们对包括在线活动在内的信息自由和言论与结社自由方面的情况继续恶化深感担忧。人权捍卫者、律师和其他行使宗教和信仰自由等基本人权的公民被捕、拘留和定罪的事件仍在继续，包括在新疆和西藏地区。我们对2010年诺贝尔和平奖获得者刘晓波的去世表示遗憾，也对维权律师江天勇最近的定罪和维权人员伊力哈木·土赫提、王全璋、吴淦、扎西旺修、李昱函与黄奇的拘留表示关切。他们被拘留都与促进基本人权有关。我们呼吁中国立即停止对这些与其他中国公民、维权人士及其家属的拘留和骚扰。所有刑事被告都应该可以自己选择律师并与其家属见面，不应该受到强迫和公开认罪，酷刑或其他形式的虐待。我们认可2017年外国非政府组织在注册方面取得的进展，与此同时我们也呼吁中国进一步努力，让外国和国内的非政府组织自由有效地进行注册和运营。最后，我们仍然对中国《刑事诉讼法》缺乏有效实施表示关切。我们也关切中国所通过的不符合其国际义务和承诺的法律。

我们自身的经验使我们很清楚地认识到全面促进和保护人权的难度，是永无止境的工作。中国政府承诺促进法治，建设现代化及繁荣的社会。尊重和促进人权不仅符合这些目标，我们也认为对实现目标是必要的。在未来的一年，我们工作核心的一部分将是同中国携手促进《世界人权宣言》所阐述的权益。