white paper – TCHRD

13/06/2015 News

China’s white paper on human rights is significant for its omissions

On 8 June 2015, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) released a white paper on its human rights record. Consistent with the previous 11 white papers on human rights, the most recent white paper attempts to hide the PRC’s human rights violations. Previous White Papers have argued that the PRC deserves exceptions from universally accepted human rights. This exception is claimed by adding “Chinese characteristics” to universally accepted values. Most often, Chinese characteristics involve emphasizing the rights of communities at the expense of the individual. Because human rights are needed to protect the most vulnerable, excusing the suffering of a few individuals for the “greater good” cannot be justified.

24/10/2013 News / TCHRD Statements

China’s white paper on Tibet suffers from human rights doublespeak

A huge contingent of armed police surround Tibetans attending the Monlam Chenmo prayer festival in Rebkong County in February 2013

This week, China issued a white paper titled “Development and Progress of Tibet” which contained stunning claims of improved situation inside Tibet. Indeed the release of the white paper on the day of China’s second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the UN Human Rights Council was a strategic move. However, if China thought that a mere white paper filled with omissions, human rights doublespeak and calculated obfuscation would help blunt criticisms against its egregious human rights record in Tibet, it turned out to be just another exercise in self-delusion.

Like its white papers on Tibet issued in the past, the latest one begins by distorting not just the current reality of Tibet, but also Tibet’s history, denying its distinct identity as a nation and civilisation having its cultural influence beyond its Himalayan borders – in regions and countries as diverse as Sikkim, Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Baltistan, Kalmykia, Mongolia and so on.

21/05/2013 News / TCHRD Statements

China rejects universality of human rights in latest white paper

Tibetan students protest in Rebkong County in 2012

Last week, the Information Office of the State Council, or China’s Cabinet, issued a white paper on “Progress in China’s Human Rights in 2012”[i] as a part of its propaganda activity for the upcoming Universal Periodic Review later this year. Unsurprisingly, the white paper praised Chinese progress in human rights—pointing almost exclusively to the benefits of China’s continued economic development. However, behind the self-congratulatory praise and statistics lie China’s underlying philosophy of human rights, which fundamentally misunderstands the international human rights system. China’s white paper is oblivious to the indivisible and universal nature of human rights, and that guaranteeing human rights requires action and not just mere hollow proclamations.

According to the white paper, human rights are divisible and unrelated by treating economic development and the corresponding rights as supreme. The first section of the white paper concerns “Human Rights in Economic Construction” and states that, “it would be impossible to protect people’s rights and interests without first developing the economy to feed and clothe the people.” Rhetoric from China concerning the importance of economic development before even addressing civil and political rights is not new. During the Cold War both capitalist and communist states frequently advocated for either civil and political right or economic, social and cultural rights and ignored the other. This division was a political tool and never accurately described the international human rights system or the philosophy of human rights.

06/04/2004 TCHRD Statements

China’s White Paper on Human Rights: A Whitewash

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) considers 2003 as the year of grave human rights violations in Tibet committed by authorities of People’s Republic of China (PRC). The information gathered by TCHRD gives clear picture of systematic and continued violation of Tibetan people’s right to civil liberties, religious freedom, and socio-economic rights.

On 30 March 2004, the Chinese State Council Information Office released a white paper titled “Progress in China’s Human Rights Cause in 2003”. The White Paper contained eight chapters: The people’s right to subsistence and development, civil and political rights, judicial guarantee for human rights, economic, social and cultural rights, the rights and interests of women and children, equal rights and special protection for ethnic minorities, the rights and interest of the disabled and international exchanges and co-operation in human rights.