cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/56178607

Archived

Report downloads in English (pdf) and in Chinese (pdf).

This publication is a sister report to Behind Bars: A Survey on Detention Centre Conditions in China (in English, pdf), which follows the same survey, interview and case study format to look at human rights failings in the country’s detention system.

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To mark Mandela Day this weekend, Safeguard Defenders is releasing a new study that reveals exploitative working conditions, political coercion and physical and psychological abuse in China’s sprawling prison system.

Behind Bars: a survey on prison conditions in China, based on a survey of 59 former prisoners, paints a grim picture with respondents describing abuses and violations of both international law and Chinese law and regulations. Its findings should be a stark reminder for foreign governments considering security agreements or extradition arrangements with Beijing that such cooperation is incompatible with fundamental human rights principles.

Mandela Day, held on 18 July (on Nelson Mandela’s birthday) honours his life’s work fighting for social justice and human rights. The day is also an important date for prisoner rights—Mandela spent 27 years as a political prisoner in South Africa during the Apartheid years, and the key UN document on the treatment of prisoners was officially renamed the Nelson Mandela Rules in 2015.

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In addition to the survey, Behind Bars also draws on a longform interview with former Australian detainee Matthew Radalj, a comparative analysis of domestic and international law and a case study of a large prison in central China that has been at the heart of recent international allegations of forced labour.

“The truth is that xxx prison is not a prison with factories, but factories with a prison,” one survey respondent wrote, adding, “ In Chinese prisons, guilty and innocent are treated just like animals, with not even basic rights.”

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At a time when China’s authoritarian surveillance state has been deleting sources of public data and made it more dangerous for people to share their testimony, Behind Bars shines a light on what really goes on in Chinese prisons. It is an important addition to the body of research on the widespread rights violations perpetrated on those incarcerated in the country.

With China typically sentencing around 850,000 people to prison time every year in one of their 680+ prisons, the scale of abuse is potentially massive. Estimates put the number of people serving time in China at around 2.34 million, likely making China the country with the largest number of prisoners serving time in the world.

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One respondent wrote, “I was not treated like a human being at all.”

Radalj said that when he was in solitary confinement, he was Tasered “almost on a daily basis” and that he was “chained for the entire 194 days” around his leg.

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The Chinese prison system heavily emphasizes ideological education and expects prisoners to produce thought reports, such as letters of repentance, statements of confession and essays outlining support and praise for the CCP.

More than three quarters of respondents said they had to write thought reports when they were in prison. Education provided for prisoners was more often propaganda in nature and focused on CCP ideological education rather than being vocational in nature and helping them develop skills so they can find work upon release.

Prisoners who refused to write thought reports or whose written works were not deemed sufficiently “politically correct” or remorseful were typically punished, for example by not being able to apply for sentence commutation, having their shopping quota cut, the cancellation or reduction of time for a family visit or phone call and even physical punishment and/or solitary confinement. One respondent said they were denied medical attention because they did not write a confession letter.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/54247012

Archived

Here is the full report: TCHRD 2025 Annual Report on the Human Rights Situation in Tibet (pdf)

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) launched its 2025 Annual Report on the Human Rights Situation in Tibet.

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In 2025, Tibet continued to remain one of the least free places in the world, receiving a Global Freedom Score of 0 out of 100 by Freedom House.

Under the continued leadership of Xi Jinping, the Chinese Communist Party expanded policies aimed at reshaping Tibetan identity through tighter legal regulation, political indoctrination, heightened surveillance, and systematic cultural assimilation.

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The year witnessed intensified state interference in Tibetan religious life and institutions. New measures further consolidated Party control over monasteries and religious practices, requiring monastic institutions to align more closely with CCP ideology. Heightened restrictions surrounding the 90th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama illustrated the extent of China’s fear of Tibetan religious identity, as authorities imposed sweeping security measures, intensified censorship, and cracked down on displays of devotion to the Tibetan spiritual leader.

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One of the most alarming cases documented during the reporting period involved the extrajudicial killing of Tibetan religious leader Tulku Hungkar Dorje in Viet Nam following his detention during a joint operation involving Chinese and Vietnamese authorities. The case raised grave concerns regarding China’s growing transnational repression and the targeting of Tibetan religious leaders and activists beyond its borders.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/53903311

The campaign of repression against the Uyghurs has entered a new phase.

Archived

In August 2024, the parents of Ekpar Asat made a long journey to a prison in the Chinese region of Xinjiang.

Asat, who belongs to the Uyghur ethnic group, was detained by authorities in April 2016 on charges of “inciting ethnic hatred”. The founder of a popular Uyghur-language website, he had recently returned from attending a prestigious leadership programme in the US.

The May visit was the first time Asat’s parents had seen him in person since his disappearance, and he had lost so much weight he was “unrecognisable”, his sister Rayhan later said.

The meeting lasted barely 10 minutes and was done through a glass window, according to human rights groups. The family was forced to speak in Chinese — a language Ekpar is fluent in, but his parents barely speak — and not permitted to show any emotion. “Prisoners have to be always happy,” Rayhan tells the FT.

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Analysis suggests that the Chinese state’s campaign of oppression against Uyghurs and their culture and identity has in fact entered a new phase. While many camps have shut, a vast network of prisons and detention centres remains, alongside pervasive surveillance and systems of coercive social control.

It shows Xinjiang has the world’s highest prison detention capacity relative to its population size — evidence that authorities continue to rely on mass incarceration. Researchers and rights groups say repression in the region now extends towards the long-term remaking of Uyghur society.

Beijing has expanded labour transfer programmes that move Uyghurs into factory work elsewhere in the country — schemes UN experts say can amount to forced labour. This places multinational corporations that work in China in a challenging situation, as Beijing is also making it increasingly difficult and dangerous for companies to perform due diligence in their supply chains so they do not target Uyghur rights.

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Researchers say the campaign reflects Beijing’s drive to assimilate Uyghurs into mainstream Han Chinese identity amid rising nationalism under Xi Jinping.

Uyghurs’ distinct language, culture and Islamic faith create a “degree of insecurity that has only intensified as China has begun taking this profoundly nationalistic turn”, says historian Hannah Theaker. “They just want to force them to be Chinese,” adds Peter Irwin, co-executive director of the Network for Uyghur Rights.

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Xinjiang is also strategically important to Beijing, as it straddles trade routes linking China to Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe, while holding large reserves of coal, oil and gas. “They see it as an economic engine for the country,” Irwin says.

China continues to frame its policies in Xinjiang as essential to security and stability. In a speech last year, Xi stressed the need for readiness in “combating terrorism”. State media said Xi also called for religions to “conform to China’s realities” and for officials and ethnic groups to “develop a correct view” of the country, its history, nation, culture and religion.

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China tightly controls information from the region, censoring online material, restricting travel and intimidating Uyghurs abroad through threats against relatives back home. But the FT was able to gather a picture of the current situation from human rights observers, members of the diaspora, and people who recently left China and witnessed the mechanisms used to control Uyghurs.

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Human rights researchers believe many facilities remain occupied. More than 578,000 people were prosecuted in Xinjiang between 2017 and 2022, according to figures compiled by the Uyghur Human Rights Project from official data. Given China’s conviction rate of more than 99.9 per cent and the long prison terms handed down during the crackdown, researchers believe many of those sentenced are likely still imprisoned.

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The figures suggest that if Xinjiang were a country, it would have the highest incarceration rate in the world, at 1,944 per 100,000 people. China’s nationwide rate is 119 per 100,000 people, according to the World Prison Brief.

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Uyghurs interviewed by the FT say large parts of their families have been detained. Nureli Abliz, a former telecoms worker in Xinjiang, estimates that roughly 70 per cent of his extended family remain in custody.

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The campaign to assimilate Uyghurs into mainstream Han Chinese culture is reshaping a generation, particularly children separated from their families through Xinjiang’s vast boarding school system.

Boarding schools have long existed across the region, often justified by authorities as a way to provide education in rural areas. But official documents also describe them as a way to teach children Mandarin and “[block] the influence of the family’s religious atmosphere”.

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Uyghur activists say the removal of children from their families and communities is creating a “generation gap” in which many no longer understand their language and culture. Lessons are taught in Mandarin, and families say children are not allowed to speak Uyghur.

“Young children lose their language skills very quickly,” says Abduweli Ayup, a Uyghur linguist and activist. In one family, he says, siblings learnt different Mandarin dialects from their respective teachers. “Now the children can’t communicate with one another.”

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A new law downgrades languages other than Mandarin, encourages inter-ethnic marriage and requires parents to raise children to “love the Chinese Communist Party”.

“Everything that once reflected Uyghur civilisation — our culture, our language — has been wiped out,” says a Uyghur man who recently visited the region from the US.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/53805497

Archived

Here is the report: From Watchdogs to Ideologues - How Politicized UN Rapporteurs Are Subverting Human Rights (pdf)

In November 2006, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan described the system of Special Procedures as “the crown jewel of the UN human rights system.” Nearly two decades later, that jewel has lost much of its luster—tarnished by politicization, disregard for impartiality, and a complete failure of accountability to minimal norms and professional standards.

The Human Rights Council today maintains 59 Special Procedures mandates—46 dealing with global themes, and 13 addressing specific countries—an increase of nearly 30% from when the Council was created in 2006. Although Special Procedures are unsalaried, they receive certain financial support when carrying out official duties, including UN funding for country visits, as well as training, staffing support, and other institutional resources.

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Yet, like the body that appoints them—the 47-member Human Rights Council, a majority of whose members are non-democracies—the Special Procedures have become politicized. The mechanism increasingly functions not as an independent human rights safeguard, but as a vehicle for ideological advocacy, selective targeting, and the laundering of unverified and even spurious allegations through the authority of the United Nations.

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[According to a new report], the reality of the Special Procedures system increasingly diverges from the admiring scholarly assessments. Rather than operating as independent and impartial experts, many mandate-holders now use country visits and thematic reports to advance politicized narratives, disproportionately target democratic states, and shield authoritarian regimes from scrutiny. As detailed below, structural deficiencies—including politicized appointments, proliferation of mandates, weakened evidentiary standards, lack of transparency, and the absence of accountability—have eroded the credibility and integrity of the system in practice.