Title	China: Gross human rights violations continue
Publisher	Amnesty International
Publication Date	1 February 1996
Country	China
Topics	Arbitrary arrest and detention | Death penalty | Freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment | Gross, systematic and large-scale | Human rights and fundamental freedoms | Rule of law / Due process / Procedural fairness
Citation / Document Symbol	ASA 17/017/1996
Reference	Amnesty International is a worldwide voluntary movement that works to prevent some of the gravest violations by governments of people's fundamental human rights. The main focus of its campaigning is to: free all prisoners of conscience people detained an
Cite as	Amnesty International, China: Gross human rights violations continue, 1 February 1996, ASA 17/017/1996, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6a98c23.html [accessed 14 October 2022]
Comments	Grave human rights violations have continued in China in 1995. They range from the arbitrary detention of people who peacefully express their views, to gross violations of the physical integrity of the person and the right to life. Dissent and any activity perceived as a threat to the established political order continue to be repressed. Thousands of political prisoners, including members of religious and ethnic groups, are in jail, many simply for expressing their views. Torture and ill-treatment are common during arrest and in police stations, detention centres, labour camps and prisons, sometimes resulting in the death of the victims.The death penalty is widely used to instil fear into the population, particularly during crackdowns on crime. For four consecutive years from 1991, the Chinese Government has successfully used a procedural motion to block any resolution critical of its human rights record being debated by the UN Commission on Human Rights. No government should be allowed to choose the extent to which it will abide by international human rights law. No government should be allowed to manipulate human rights issues to further its political aims. To work within the UN means accepting the universality of the fundamental human rights spelled out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the application in all countries of the laws, bodies and mechanisms which aim to protect those rights.
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