Dec 22, 2008

UPR: China in the UNPO and UN Spotlight


UNPO research identifies the need for official Chinese terminology to be better defined.

 

Findings from a UNPO report have been included in the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of China.

The UPR uses submissions from a variety of civil society members, NGO’s and other relevant stakeholders to create objective and reliable information about the human rights situation of the government in question. Each report is analysed and reviewed by the UPR working group, and then the state in question is invited to respond.

The UNPO called on China to better define official terms such as “endangering national security”. This would avoid inadvertent human rights abuses justified by overly broad definitions. Furthermore the UNPO called for Chinese authorities to resist from regularly referring to Uyghurs as “extremists” or “terrorists”. The UNPO also requested the UN to pay attention to forced population transfers of young women, the restrictions on Tibetan culture, religion and identity and the lack of freedom of speech in Inner Mongolia.

 
For a summary of the stakeholders’ submission papers click here.

To see the UNPO submission, click here.