Chinese Human Rights Violations and Censorship
Often times when one imagines human rights violations, genocide, or neglect of basic human needs they think of some distant third-world nation where the impoverished and uneducated are struggling. Those more economically and militarily powerful nations are only ever really guilty of ignoring the issues and allowing human rights to be violated when they could step in and do something. Much of Europe, North America, and Central Asia appear to pale in comparison with their violations as opposed to those taking place in distant exotic lands. This is false. Aside from what may be happening in the rest of the world; one of the worst offenders of human rights violations is the currently empowered Communist Party of the People’s Republic of China. Such a powerful nation, seen on the global playing field, doing such heinous things and yet there is no punishment or even acknowledgement, which makes one wonder why no one is doing anything. The simple answer is that through China’s censorship and control of information flow, there is ultimately little to no bearing-of-witness to these violations.
The People’s Republic of China, formally established in 1949, is the most populous nation in the world, has the highest gross domestic product (GDP) in the world, has the world’s second most stable economy, has long life expectancy, and boasts some of the best education systems worldwide. From the outside looking-in, it appears to be such a successful welcoming nation. Truth be told, China does house a beautiful set of cultures, languages, and a history full of romance, war, artwork, and legendary literature. It is a wonderous place. Yet, one large issue is holding the nation back; a lack of human rights. With such a powerful culture full of kindness and love, and a population capable of overthrowing any government on Earth, it becomes apparent that the root cause of the persistence of these violations is censorship. The Chinese government, run and controlled by the sole Communist Party, does everything within its power to regulate the flow of information. If the people can’t be made aware of the truth, then they cannot fight to right the wrongs of their government. The United Nations (UN), in 1948, created a list of all rights that every human is entitled to no matter what, in a document named the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Communist Party led government of China has without question broken several, if not almost all, of the articles in said document. However, due to Chinese censorship the UN has done almost nothing to influence or put a stop to these violations. There have been a few investigations which have ultimately led to nothing, as more often than not the investigators find no official proof of human rights violations.
One prime example of human rights being stripped away from people in China, is the presence and operation of “re-education” camps in Xinjiang, China. According to the Chinese government, these are called Vocational Education and Training Camps. They are, according to Chinese officials, no reason to raise alarm to abusive or illegal happenings and as such it is illegal to have pictures, videos, or even discussions (unless in the necessary professional environment) of these camps. This means there is no hard evidence as to what is going on inside. One cannot simply watch a show-all video and have an understanding. Instead, they must investigate and read from third party findings which will ultimately be denied as true by the Chinese government. According to these reports from news outlets and international non-government organizations (NGOs), the re-education camps are forcibly taking in Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and Kyrgyz primarily from Western China and submitting them to what one detainee called “brainwashing.” This detainee is named Kayrat Samarkand, a citizen of Kazakhstan who was detained for three months after travelling abroad. Fortunately, the Kazakh government was able to get him released and returned to his home nation. He claimed he faced hours of humiliation and brainwashing, along with being forced to study communist propaganda and shout chants to honor President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party every day. A Uyghur woman named Mihrigul Tursun was detained and escaped, but was ultimately recaptured where she later claimed she was beaten and tortured until eventually being released. Many have claimed long term physical and mental health problems as a result of being held in these camps. The issue being that all of these claims and stories come from sources such as the New York Times, local Kazakh courts, and simple journals and articles from lesser-known news outlets. These are simply not enough evidence to many foreign nations and to the UN to warrant any action or punishment. At the end of the day, a vast majority of Chinese citizens aren’t saying anything, or complaining, or demanding international help. Primarily because, many of them don’t know what is truly going on, and all of them aren’t allowed to talk about it. One Kazakh was trying to accuse the government of forced labor in these camps, but eventually backed down as if she did not win the case, she would be extradited to China where she would face the death penalty for subversion. The government is literally killing people to keep the truth quiet, but technically these are all only allegations.
The Re-education camps are just the tip of the iceberg; the way the People’s Republic of China really keeps everyone in line is by punishing those who talk openly. The Communist Party allows some freedom of speech by way of criticism. More specifically, only government established “experts” may provide certain “criticism” about the government on shows, websites, or articles that are published and edited by said government. They approve everything that is said. Speaking out against the People’s Republic of China is illegal, anyone caught doing so is arrested and tried for subversion. In essence, the government considers it an act of war / terrorism to criticize them and they will hold the offensive party responsible, punishing them to the full extent of the law. Those found guilty will more often than not spend the remainder of their lives in prison or face the death penalty depending on the severity. Many may think the media in the United States (US) is strict or not very open minded, but one should always remember they do not have to fear death whenever they voice their opinion regardless of whom they support or dislike. The freedom of speech truly does not exist in China, neither does the freedom of religion, or the freedom to peacefully assemble so long as the government sees it as counterproductive to their goals. Reading through the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, one comes to find that articles 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 28, 29, and 30 are all being broken if these “allegations” are true. Even the misuse of a single article warrants international reaction, and the Communist Party of China is breaking seventeen at minimum and quite possibly even more. However, it again falls to censorship and the control of the people and the information they have. How can the masses be expected to call out injustice when the very act could get them jailed or killed, not to mention the fact that many of them may be completely blind to what is actually occurring. The communist Party has learned one absolute truth; control the information and one controls the people. It is like something from a futuristic dystopian novel.
Even though there is, in some people’s opinions, overwhelming evidence that human rights violations are occurring in China, the international community has done little to nothing about it. They however, are not the only ones to blame. International corporations; producers of goods and seekers of profit, have benefitted exponentially from China’s economy, and more than anything they fear to disrupt the profits they get from China. Even if the UN were to engage with righting the wrongs of Communist China, many powerful corporations would fight them every step of the way. Companies such as Apple, Nike, Dell, Walmart, Gucci, and countless others are suspected of utilizing China’s lack of labor laws to gain maximum profit, and due to China’s massive population almost every international company in the world sells to the nation. It’s a huge consumer base. This means, all of these companies and corporations seek to ensure that China thrives so that they too can thrive. Most recently Treyarch, a company that makes videogames, created Call of Duty: Cold War, a game about the conflicts and international interactions taking place after World War II. Although almost all fictionalized, many real-world events play out in the game. However, the company removed any mention of the Cultural Revolution or the Tiananmen Square Massacre in the game, because the Chinese government refused to sell the game in their nation if Treyarch did not adhere to their standard. These companies are bending over backwards to do what the Communist Party demands and are abusing human rights themselves to maximize profits. Yet again, it is all just allegation by third party sources and not enough to get anything done. The Communist Part of China is holding a massive population and economy hostage, keeping the international community from doing anything. No one dares contradict the People’s Republic of China.
Except, there are those who battle the all-powerful Communist Party from within. One exemplary man doing this is an artist named Ai Weiwei (艾未未). Ai Weiwei lives in Beijing, China and is a world renown artist. He even designed the stadium that housed many of the events of the 2008 Olympics. He is treasured by the Chinese government and many others internationally. However, he is extremely outspoken about the heinous acts of his government. He often goes to court to call out the Communist Party, does personal investigations to find missing information, and makes artwork to gain the attention of the world. Ultimately, it has only gotten him beaten, arrested, put under extra surveillance, and thrown in jail many times. Ai Weiwei has not stopped though; he continues to fight the good fight and bear witness to the atrocities of the Communist Party of China. Unfortunately, thus far it has done him and his nation little good. He is often placed under lock down in Beijing so that he cannot do his work and gain the attention of the world. The government wishes to keep him silent but not to kill him and draw unwanted attention to themselves. Another fine example is that of the Hong Kong protests. Beginning in 2019, the city of Hong Kong, which once belonged to the United Kingdom (UK), was subject to new laws that saw it falling further under Communist China’s rule. The city once was protected by the UK and as such was not able to be so brutally controlled and kept silent as was the rest of China. However, in 2019 a new law was proposed that would in essence make Hong Kong almost completely subjugated to the laws and authorities of mainland China. The people living there who lived in relative freedom began to march the streets and demand this bill be withdrawn from consideration and those behind it be removed from office. For nearly a full year, with the covid-19 pandemic causing a partial stop, the protests have gone on to little avail. Those who had been given a taste of freedom, then fell under threat of subjugation to Communist China, are fighting with every bit of strength they have to keep their freedoms. Ai Weiwei fights from within the system, and Hong Kong fights to remain separate from the system. Those battles along with all the allegations should be more than enough to make the world see just what horrible actions are occurring in the People’s Republic of China. Only time will tell whether oppressive censorship or justice will prevail.
Bibliography
Congressional Executive Commission on China (CECC) “Freedom of Expression in China: A Privilege, Not a Right.” 2020.
“A Surveillance State Unlike Any the World Has Ever Seen”. Der Spiegel. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
INVESTOPEDIA “How Many Multinational Corporations Operate in China.” February 3, 2020.
Ross, James. “The Costs of International Advocacy: China’s Interference in the United Nations Human Right Mechanisms.” Human Rights Watch. September 5, 2017.
Ruz, Camila (21 October 2015). “Human rights: What is China accused of?”. BBC.
United Nations. “Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” Written and Approved December 10, 1948.
滕兴善 一个比佘祥林更加悲惨的人-搜狐新闻. News.sohu.com. 2 April 2007.
南方周末 – 聂树斌案，拖痛两个不幸家庭. Infzm.com. 10 February 2012. Archived from the original on 4 January 2013.
*Disclaimer*
Many of these sources are not very official due to lack of hard studies and evidence collection. As mentioned in the essay, many sources are third party journals or articles that quote different people second-hand and offer only word-of-mouth recollections of events.