(New York) – Under President Xi Jinping’s new term, governments around the world must commit to pressuring Beijing to respect human rights both inside and outside of China, Human Rights Watch said today. The ruling Communist Party of China is scheduled to hold its 20th Party Congress from October 16, 2022. During this time, Xi is expected to consolidate his power and secure his third term as party leader.
Human Rights Watch senior China researcher Yaqiu Wang said: “The third violation of President Xi’s primacy shows the deterioration of human rights in China and around the world.” “Depending on the location Civil society As the movement in China continues to decline, it is important for the international community to take necessary steps to limit Xi’s abuses.
In a key example of authoritarian rule’s impact on rights, in the wake of effective treatments and Covid-19 vaccines, the Chinese government has doubled down on its Covid-19 restrictions, imposing repeated and unpredictable lockdowns on hundreds of millions of people. His abusive “Zero-Covid” policy.
The measures have prevented people from accessing health care, food and other necessities of life. An unknown number of people have died after being denied treatment for Covid-related illnesses. Some died in mass detention centers or locked apartment buildings. The lockdowns caused economic damage, forcing businesses to downsize or close, cutting jobs and wages. However, there is little sign that authorities are lifting restrictions such as lockdowns and long-term detention.
In the 10 years since Xi took power in 2012, authorities have suppressed Chinese civil society, jailed scores of government critics, severely restricted free speech, and deployed mass surveillance technology to monitor and control citizens. Since 2017, the authorities have continued to persecute the authorities, arbitrarily arrest one million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims, and other abuses. Crimes against humanity. In Hong Kong, the government introduced a draconian national security law in 2020 and systematically dismantled the city’s freedoms. All these have made it difficult for citizens to hold the government accountable and there is almost no room for them to participate in government decisions.
In July, China’s unemployment rate among 16- to 24-year-olds hit a record high of 20 percent. In the year The Office for National Statistics’ announcement that the number of “flexible employment” workers will grow to 200 million by 2021 has been met with widespread derision. Netizens accused the government of twisting the reality of lack of job opportunities and social protection into a narrative of personal choice.
Human Rights Watch is particularly concerned about the impact of these unpredictable Covid-19 policies on the economic and social rights of people in difficult economic situations, who are exposed to financial difficulties due to socioeconomic inequality and discrimination.
Many migrant workers are already in dire need, because unemployment often means they have no income if they are not registered in social insurance programs, which means a lack of work-related income, or insufficient income, due to illness, disability, maternity, work injury, unemployment, among other things. .
Workers in the “gig” economy do not sign formal employment contracts, and many employers do not make social insurance payments on their behalf, even if it is required by law. Companies rarely face penalties for not making these payments because local authorities have long been motivated by economic development concerns to investigate non-compliance.
In the year Unemployment benefits have been paid to only 6.1 million workers in 2021, the official urban jobless population is about 24 million workers, and this does not include the tens of millions of workers who are out of work or on unpaid leave due to the pandemic.
In Ruli, a border town in Yunnan province, residents endured 7 separate lockdowns from March 2021 to April 2022, leaving them confined to their homes for 119 days, except for mandatory covid testing. In Shanghai, a commercial hub of 25 million people, residents endured a similar strict lockdown from March to May. Chengdu, a city of 21 million people, was locked down for two weeks in September. In October, Xinjiang authorities barred residents from leaving the region weeks after the last lockdown, which lasted more than a month in parts of Xinjiang. Authorities in Lhasa have imposed a strict lockdown since August.
Across China, many people spoke on social media about the lack of supplies of food, medicine and other essentials due to the financial crisis. During the outbreak, many lost their jobs, lockdowns increased the price of vegetables and other foods.
In August, a food delivery driver stabbed himself in front of a shopping center to protest being fined for quitting his job and demanding unpaid wages from a major food delivery company, Eleme.
In September, when Chengdu was locked down after discovering several cases, a 16-year-old girl was caught on surveillance camera stealing a neighbor’s food supply. She has no money because the Internet cafe where she worked was closed and she was not getting paid for her previous job. A man who was told he had not eaten for days because he was jobless and had no money collapsed while lining up for a covid test.
While such incidents are widely publicized on social media, increasing internet censorship means these are likely only a small sample of a much wider experience.
According to international human rights law, governments have an obligation to ensure the people’s social security rights and an adequate standard of living, which means that the rights to adequate food and nutrition, health and safety, water and environmental sanitation and housing are protected and protected by everyone. He can live in dignity. The Chinese government must ensure equal enjoyment of these rights by all, without discrimination based on gender, race or ethnicity, age or disability.
China’s economic decline is worsening an already severely curtailed civil and political rights as authorities respond to online and offline protests with increased censorship, arbitrary arrests and crackdowns. In June, Henan authorities cracked down on bank depositors who wanted to withdraw their life savings from cash-strapped banks. Authorities have disrupted the protesters’ Covid-19 health code app to limit their activities. In September, authorities shut down online comment amid a live broadcast of the China-ASEAN Health Cooperation Forum after being flooded with calls for help from residents of Dongxing City during a prolonged lockdown in Guangxi province.
As the Chinese government continues to limit the ways in which citizens can be held accountable for human rights abuses, foreign governments and multilateral institutions must step up efforts to protect rights, such as calling for the release of imprisoned human rights defenders and investing in open source technologies. It can allow people in China to easily bypass censorship and ban products from forced labor in China. Foreign companies operating in China must conduct public human rights due diligence by ensuring that their operations comply with the United Nations Trade and Human Rights Guidelines.
“China’s abusive and widely unpopular zero-covid policy and its impact on the economy show that political rights and economic rights are deeply intertwined,” Wang said. A political leader who is not accountable to disenfranchised citizens is dangerous not only for China but also for the world.
