11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

Protests against the political system or national leaders were prohibited ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 23154]

"The law provides for freedom of peaceful assembly; however, the government severely restricted this right in practice. The law stipulates that such activities may not challenge "party leadership" or infringe upon the "interests of the state." Protests against the political system or national leaders were prohibited. Authorities denied permits and quickly suppressed demonstrations involving expression of dissenting political views."

Document(s): Open document

11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

Vast majority of demonstrations during the year concerned land disputes, housing issues, industrial, environmental, and labor matters, government corruption, taxation, and other economic and social concerns ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 23155]

"Demonstrations with political or social themes were broken up quickly, sometimes with excessive force. Social inequalities and uneven economic development, combined with dissatisfaction over widespread official corruption, resulted in increased social unrest. As in past years, the vast majority of demonstrations during the year concerned land disputes, housing issues, industrial, environmental, and labor matters, government corruption, taxation, and other economic and social concerns. In January the MPS announced that the number of "mass incidents," a vague term encompassing all kinds of protests and disturbances, fell 16.5 percent in 2006. Officials estimated the number of mass incidents was 23,000, although experts questioned the reliability of this figure. In September, 2,000 demobilized military personnel in three provinces used cell phones and the Internet to coordinate protests over poor conditions at job retraining schools. In March as many as 20,000 persons in Yongzhou, Hunan Province, rioted when a local bus company raised fares. According to foreign media reports, a student died in the melee, and many more were injured. However, local authorities claimed there were no deaths or casualties, and there has been no official investigation into the incident. In May thousands of residents across two counties and nine towns in Guangxi Province rioted against illegal family planning measures, attacking government workers and looting family planning offices."

Document(s): Open document

11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

Dissidents were detained around the time of sensitive events to prevent public demonstrations ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 23276]

"Authorities detained potential protesters before and after the June 4 anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre, the second anniversary of Zhao Ziyang's death in January, the March plenary sessions of the NPC and CPPCC, and the 17th Communist Party Congress in October. Dissidents were detained around the time of other sensitive events to prevent public demonstrations. Labor protests over restructuring of state-owned enterprises and resulting unemployment continued, as did protests over environmental degradation and major infrastructure projects, such as dams. All concerts, sports events, exercise classes, or other meetings of more than 200 persons required approval from public security authorities. In practice much smaller gatherings also ran the risk of being disrupted by authorities."

Document(s): Open document

31.05.2007 - Source: Human Rights in China

Protests over family planning rules; 3,000 people in several counties clash with police ("Monthly Brief; May 2007") [ID 20607]

"Riots broke out across the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region between May 25-31 in protest against forced abortions and sterilizations. From May 25 to 26, as many as 3,000 people in several counties clashed with police, some burning government buildings and overturning cars to vent their anger. Twenty-eight people were detained, according to state media. In Shitao Township, Rongxian County, residents reignited riots on May 29 over family planning rules that had taken effect on May 17-20. Protesters surrounded local government offices and clashed with police. At least a dozen villagers were arrested on May 30.[19] Also on May 29, hundreds of protesters in Yangmei Township, Rongxian County, gathered in front of a family planning office and demanded a refund of fines imposed for having more than one child. Similar incidents also occurred in Bobai County."

Document(s): Open document

30.04.2007 - Source: Human Rights in China

Beijing: Situation of petitioners remains serious (""Monthly Brief; April 2007"") [ID 20608]

"On April 5 it was reported that a survey by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) found that the situation of petitioners in Beijing remained serious. Seventy-one percent of the respondents said they had been beaten, and 64 percent had been detained. Moreover, 71 percent of the respondents believed that persecution and violence by local authorities against petitioners had increased after the new petitioning regulation was passed in 2005."

Document(s): Open document

31.03.2007 - Source: Human Rights in China

Authorities have stepped up action against petitioners ahead of NPC and CPPCC sessions ("Monthly Brief; March 2007") [ID 20609]

"Beijing authorities have stepped up action against petitioners ahead of the two sessions. More than 500 petitioners were taken away on the night of February 28. Petitioner Zhou Li (周利) said the local authorities had offered her a free trip to Hainan Province if she would not petition in Beijing during the meetings.
According to witnesses, public security officers took away more than 100 petitioners in Beijing on March 7, while the NPC and CPPCC conferences were underway. Some longtime petitioners have reportedly been sent to reeducation-through-labor centers or placed under administrative detention.
The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) on March 30 denied that it had ordered controls over petitioners in Beijing during the NPC and CPPCC sessions. A newspaper reported on March 16 that the MPS had issued an order stipulating that local authorities would be fined 10,000 yuan for every petitioner from their locality who was caught in Beijing."

Document(s): Open document

06.03.2007 - Source: US Department of State

Excessive force against demonstrators ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006") [ID 19092]

"At times police used excessive force against demonstrators. Demonstrations with political or social themes were often broken up quickly and violently. Widespread market reforms and rapid growth have resulted in increased social unrest, with large-scale public disturbances on the rise for more than a decade. As in past years, the vast majority of demonstrations during the year concerned land disputes, housing issues, industrial, environmental, and labor matters, government corruption, taxation, and other economic and social concerns. During the first half of the year, public security authorities reported 39,000 "public order disturbances," a 2.5 percent decrease from the same period in 2005, although these statistics were widely viewed as unreliable. While the scale of disturbances and incidents varied, some included thousands of participants. In April, for example, up to 3,000 riot police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse 4,000 villagers gathered to protest destruction of an unauthorized, farmer-initiated irrigation project in Bomei Village, Guangdong Province. Land protests involving hundreds or thousands of protesters also continued (see section 1.a.). In January one villager died and as many as 100 were injured when police disrupted 3,000 residents at a sit-in convened over a land dispute in Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province. In April more than 50 villagers were injured when 1,000 riot police confronted 2,000 villagers peacefully protesting a land dispute near Guangdong Province's Foshan City.

Authorities detained potential protesters before the June 4 anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre, the first anniversary of Zhao Ziyang's death in January, and the March plenary sessions of the NPC and CPPCC. Dissidents were detained around the time of other sensitive events to head off public demonstrations (see section 1.d.). Labor protests over restructuring of state-owned enterprises and resulting unemployment continued, as did protests over environmental degradation and major infrastructure projects, such as dams. All concerts, sports events, exercise classes, or other meetings of more than 200 persons required approval from public security authorities. In practice much smaller gatherings also ran the risk of being disrupted by authorities. Unlike previous years, there were no sizable incidents of anti-Japanese protests."

Document(s): Open document

06.03.2007 - Source: US Department of State

Worker protests throughout the year ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006") [ID 19169]

"Worker protests occurred throughout the year (see sections 2.b. and 3). Most involved actual or feared job loss, wage or benefit arrears, allegations of owner/management corruption, dissatisfaction with new contracts offered in enterprise restructuring, failure to honor contract terms, or discontent over substandard conditions of employment. In November the Hong Kong press reported that 1,000 laid-off former employees of a bankrupt automobile factory in Gansu Province surrounded the company headquarters, alleging that the company did not pay agreed severance compensation. In August bus drivers in Huaibei, Anhui Province started a spontaneous strike to protest changes in their wages and benefits. While some protests were tolerated, the government took swift action to halt protests that became large or that officials deemed embarrassing."

Document(s): Open document

27.10.2006 - Source: Guardian

Riot police sent to college campus after protest by students led to looting and vandalism ("Chinese students riot after diplomas branded useless") [ID 17819]

Document(s): Open document

26.10.2006 - Source: BBC News

Students reportedly clash with police in violent protests over the status of their qualifications ("China students clash with police") [ID 17820]

Document(s): Open document

26.10.2006 - Source: Standard

Jiangxi province: At least 20 people injured in police operation against protesting students in fear that their academic degree would not be officially recognised ("10.000 Studenten demonstrieren für Anerkennung von Abschlüssen") [ID 17821]

Document(s): Open document

01.07.2006 - Source: BBC News

Tens of thousands of people joined rally in Hong Kong calling for democracy ("Thousands demand Hong Kong rights") [ID 17059]

Document(s): Open document

30.06.2006 - Source: Standard

3 foreign female protesters arrested by police in Beijing; they protested against opening of first railway to Tibet ("Festnahmen nach Demonstration gegen Tibet-Bahn") [ID 17060]

Document(s): Open document

05.05.2006 - Source: World Organisation Against Torture

OMCT: Violations of the Freedom of Association documented for various fields. ("An alternative report by OMCT reveals that Georgia’s policy to fight against crime leads to unacceptable abuse and torture") [#10068],  [ID 3660]

"Freedom of association is enshrined in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which China signed in 1998. It is also protected by the Chinese Constitution (art. 35). However, restrictive legislation has been enacted in 1998 : Order N° 250 Regulations on the Registration and Management of Social Groups; Order N° 251 Provisional Regulations on the Registration and Management of People-Organised Non-Enterprise Units; and Order N° 252 Provisional Regulations on the Registration and Management of Institutional Units. These laws expand the “registration and management” scheme previously applicable only to “social groups” to all non-profit initiatives undertaken by Chinese citizens.

The 1998 legislation raises the requirements for the establishment of a social group ; allows for a preemptive ban on the registration of an organization or unit, based on "evidence" of how it might act, and threatens those engaging in unapproved activities with unspecified criminal penalties and criminal detention ; triples the length of time required for the processing of a registration application from a social group, from 30 days to 90 days, and adds a third stage to the approval process; bars individuals who have ever being deprived of their political rights from acting as the representative or "responsible persons" of an organization ; prohibits national groups from establishing any kind of regional-level branch office, thus severely restricting the coordinating capacity of any social group and prohibits non-enterprise units from setting up any branch offices ; allows for extensive government interference in the financial affairs of groups ; increases the controls to be imposed on social groups by the government "sponsors" to which they are required to be attached.

This legislative framework restricts excessively freedom of association. In practice, people calling for human rights improvements, ranging from members of the China Democratic Party to Falun Gong practitioners, are systematically silenced. Efforts to organise independently, whether around issues of politics, religion, labour or human rights are ruthlessly repressed.

Official attitude towards independent human rights activism remains hostile; there is still no possibility of establishing rights monitoring groups inside the country. Individuals have continued to be arrested and sentenced to prison for seeking to expose rights abuses, help victims, or exercise their own rights to freedom of expression and association. Attempts to organise independent human rights groups have usually ended with activists being sent to prison.
[...]"

24.04.2006 - Source: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada

Response on civil unrest involving farmers, workers, homeowners and tenants, particularly in rural areas of Guangdong (conditions causing the unrest; government response; reports of arrests, beatings and detention) ("Civil unrest involving farmers, workers, homeowners and tenants, particularly in rural areas of Guangdong; conditions causing the unrest; government response; reports of arrests, beatings and detention (2004 - 2006) [CHN101063.EX]") [ID 21978]

Document(s): Open document

16.03.2006 - Source: Standard

Xiditou: Hundreds of people demonstrate against expropriations ("Hunderte Menschen demonstrieren gegen Landenteignungen") [#46776],  [ID 17061]

Document(s): Open document

02.11.2005 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Dissident freed after 13 years in Chinese police-run mental asylum; he was forcibly held in Beijing asylum for criminally insane after staging a brief, one-man pro-democracy demonstration in Tiananmen Square; he was subjected to abuse in hospital ("China: Political Prisoner Exposes Brutality in Police-Run Mental Hospital") [#38501],  [ID 3643]

Document(s): Open document

11.10.2005 - Source: Congressional-Executive Commission on China

Access to Justice, petitions, protests ("Annual Report 2005") [#37506],  [ID 3644]

see report for further details - chapter V(e)

"Chinese citizens resort to thousands of ‘‘letters and visits’’ (xinfang) offices for redress of their grievances because of deficiencies in the legal system and the absence of alternative channels for political participation.
More citizens are petitioning xinfang offices, although only a small fraction of grievances are resolved. Citizen frustration is finding an outlet in collective petitions that take the form of mass demonstrations or strikes. Because Chinese authorities punish local officials more severely for large protests, citizens think that collective petitioning is more likely to gain results.
The Chinese government passed new regulations in 2005 designed to make the xinfang system more responsive to citizen complaints, but these regulations also expand the role of xinfang offices and the incentives for citizens to resort to collective petitioning."

Document(s): Open document

05.09.2005 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Continued often-violent protests by locals over corruption, land-grabs, taxation or environmental issues in rural areas; in response, security officials set up elite police squads in 36 cities to deal with riots and measures are taken to limit journalistic coverage of events ("China: Frustrated Citizens Take To The Streets") [#36267],  [ID 3645]

Document(s): Open document

15.04.2005 - Source: BBC News

Zhejiang: dozens of policemen injured in clashes with thousands of Huaxi villagers; the riots started after police manhandled a group of elderly women protesting at pollution caused by local chemical plants ("China riot village draws tourists") [#31266],  [ID 3646]

Document(s): Open document

12.04.2005 - Source: Guardian

Zhejiang: several dozen police officers injured during clashes with Huankantou villagers who were protesting against factory pollution; riot was sparked by reports that 2 elderly women were killed during a protest ("Chinese village protest turns into riot of thousands") [#31078],  [ID 3647]

Document(s): Open document

28.09.2004 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Housing rights activist arrested after applying for legal permission to hold protest march against forced evictions ("Release Housing Rights Activist") [#25965],  [ID 3648]

Document(s): Open document

20.08.2004 - Source: BBC News

Beijing: 6 Chinese women have threatened suicide during demonstration against corruption and trickery in China's courts ("China protesters threaten suicide") [#24868],  [ID 3649]

Document(s): Open document

14.07.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

Shangqiu city, Henan province: 4 people, all HIV positive, detained after they tried to protest at inadequate healthcare and other services for those infected with HIV/AIDS in the city/ they may be at risk of torture or ill-treatment ("China - UA 221/04") [#24007],  [ID 3650]

Document(s): Open document

17.06.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

Dr Jiang Yanyong and his wife were arbitrarily detained in the run-up to the 15th anniversary of the military crackdown on demonstrators in Tiananmen Square ("China - Further Information on UA 200/04") [#23502],  [ID 3651]

Document(s): Open document
Open document

08.06.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

Liaoning Province: prisoner of conscience Xiao Yunliang still being refused adequate medical treatment in Shenyang No. 2 Prison ("China - UA 197/04") [#23134],  [ID 3652]

Document(s): Open document
Open document

03.06.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

People are still imprisoned, and are being arrested and harassed for their links with the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square ("15 years after Tiananmen, calls for justice continue and the arrests go on") [#23018],  [ID 3653]

Document(s): Open document

10.2003 - Source: UK Home Office

Country Assessment - October 2003 - Freedom of Assembly and Association ("Country Report - October 2003") [#49232],  [ID 3654]

"6.156. While the Constitution has provisions for freedom of peaceful assembly and association, the government severely restricts these rights in practice. Such activities must not infringe upon the interests of the State, or protest against the political system or its leaders. Authorities deny permits and quickly move to suppress demonstrations involving expression of dissident political views. Demonstrations about non-political grievances are tolerated. Unauthorised protests (assembly, demonstrations, marches and petitions) on non-political subjects are on the increase and are not automatically disrupted. [10n][9ee] [9eg] However, it is not always possible to draw a clear distinction between political and non-political demonstrations; often the decision is left to local authorities who can react in varying ways. [2b]

6.157. The Chinese government estimates that there are around a million organisations in the country working in a range of fields. The authorities tolerate them as long as they avoid what the Communist Party considers to be direct challenges to CCP authority or government policy. In October 1998, the fledgling China Development Union, which had organised seminars on China's politics and economy, was shut down. [19]

[...]

SOCIAL SOCIETIES IN CHINA

5.159. The main method of control of non-governmental and non-party political and social action and debate is through the system of registration of civil society organisations. The registration system, and conversely non-registration and banning, is the key to understanding human rights issues in PRC. [11g]

5.160. Commentators and academic sources have seen an embryonic non-governmental civil society emerging over the 1990s.[9t][11g] Most analyses have concentrated on the way the Party and the state organisations have compartmentalised such social societies in order to frustrate a pluralistic system. One academic source argues that this aspect overshadowed the "the dynamics of change in China and the capacity of the 'co-opted groups' to influence the policy-making process or to pursue the interests of their members." [11g] Urban neighbourhood committees are held to be undergoing conversion to community service agencies. [9t]

5.161. The number of social societies in 1993 was estimated by China Daily to be 1,500 autonomous organisations operating at national level, and 180,000 at local level. Official Statistics from the Ministry of Civil affairs show that by the end of 1996, 1,845 national and 186,666 local organisations were registered. [11g]

5.162. The spectrum of such societies range from the China Family Planning Association (set up by the Family planning Commission) to Friends of Nature, "that operates as freely as one can in the field of environmental education". The further away from party-state sponsorship, the more vulnerable to administrative interference. [11g]

5.163. The senior CCP leaders have emphasised a restrictive legislative and organisational framework within Leninist organisational principles of non-plurality. To these principles has been added the desire to thwart social unrest and to prevent social societies from becoming a vehicle for criticism of the party and economic reforms. [11g]

5.164. The economic reforms passed in principle in 1997 and 1998, if fully implemented, will reduce the state's role considerably. In anticipation of a consequential expansion of the non-governmental social sector, the State Council approved regulations on registration in September 1998, extending legislative control on the growth. [11g]

5.165. The process of registration under the 1998 regulations was essentially two tier. Firstly, all social organisations must find a professional management unit (yewu zhuguan danwei) colloquially known as the sponsoring unit (guakao danwei = "mother-in-law"). After finding a sponsor then the registration paperwork may be sent to a registration management agency (dengji guanli jiguan), usually part of the MoCA (Ministry of Civil Affairs). So affiliation precedes registration. Rejection can occur at any stage of the process and there are no appeal rights. [11g]

5.166. Another aspect of the new regulations is that "similar" organisations are not permitted to co-exist. Hence, "mass organisations" such as the All China Women's Federation and the All China Federation of Trade Unions are unassailable in their monopolies. [11g]

5.167. Social societies post-1998 must register with the appropriate civil affairs department from the county level upwards. This ensures local groups find it impossible to enrol members from different areas. Conversely, national organisations are forbidden from creating regional branches. Names with "China" (Zhongguo or Zhonghua) or "All China" (Quanguo) in their title must be approved under the regulations and must not apply to a locally registered organisation. [11g]

5.168. The State has further means of control: groups can not only be denied registration but also declared illegal (e.g. Falun Gong, China Democracy Party). The source argues that such decisions to ban can be very idiosyncratic. Other control methods include: have the sponsoring organisation remove support; pull up organisations on financial regulations; and/or identity key members who employed in state industries moved to demanding state jobs in the hope that they will be too busy to be effective in the social organisation. Finally, post 1998, the Party has ensured that each organisation is obliged to contain a Party cell, which in turn is linked directly to the Party committee in the sponsoring organisation. [11g]

5.169. Organisations have got round the above restrictions, to varying degrees, on the basis of two main accounts. Firstly, the state and the Party are both too weak in terms of finances and human resources to implement such restrictions. Secondly, the organisations have developed a number of evasive strategies. One popular strategy was to register as a business, but this loophole was closed off by the 1998 regulations. Another is to remain a "secondary organisation", securing the sponsoring body's approval to go forward for registration, but not to proceed. The organisation has most of the main advantages of registration if it stops at such a point. This is often achieved through adoption under academic institutions and research bodies. Another method is to operate covertly within the shell of a essentially dormant or moribund existing social organisation (an example given of an active family and sexual advice clinic operating in Beijing under the auspices of the China Association of Social Workers.) Guanxi (social favours and obligations) also play a part, and officials manipulated particularly at local level. [11g]

5.170. There also organisations operating whom do not bother with any part of the registration process. There has been a growth of such organisations, operating either as "clubs", "salons", or "forums", or as traditional philanthropic practices around clan, family, or village ties. The source argues that the tightening of the regulations might actually, paradoxically, spur the growth of these non-organisations. The number estimated in 1996 was of around 20,000 nationally; Yunnan Province had for instance only 13 of 100 financial social organisations linked to the People's Bank of China in June 1995. [11g]

5.171. Social organisations have had their successes in affecting policy. The source cites the case of the China Family Planning Association's feeding back to policy makers, grassroots' concerns about implementation of birth control policies. Since 1995, the family planning services have been formally geared to a more client-based philosophy. Education and Environment groups have relative autonomy to pursue their aims. [11g]

5.172. Some organisations have not only used existing organisations as a shell, but also a means of promoting their objectives. The example of the women activists associated with the magazine Rural Women Knowing All, who have developed through the All China Women's Federation an effective programme of health education and health promotion amongst rural women. [11g]

5.173. The source concludes that the development of a civil society is fast approaching attendant to economic reforms, opening up difficulties for the Party / State to maintain traditional Leninist party culture and "transmission belt" policy. In urban areas, native place is fast growing to be an organisational principle, akin to tongxianghui developments outside PRC. [11g]

5.174. The US State Department in February 2001 noted "social groups with economic resources at their disposal continued to play an increasing role in community life," concluding "most average citizens went about their daily life without significant interference from the Government, enjoying looser economic controls, increased access to outside sources of information, greater room for individual choice, and more diversity in cultural life." [2g]

5.175. The US State Department however added the following qualification: "...the authorities were quick to supress any person or group... that they perceived to be a threat to government power or to national stability..." and included citizens who expressed "openly dissenting political and religious views". [2g]"

Document(s): Open document

02.05.2003 - Source: BBC News

More than 130 people demonstrating against the demolition of their neighbourhoods for redevelopment, detained by police ("Dozens held in Shanghai protest") [#12340],  [ID 3655]

Document(s): Open document

09.04.2003 - Source: Freedom House

Freedom House: Freedom of Assembly ("The world`s most repressive regimes 2003") [#12683],  [ID 3656]

"Workers, farmers, and others have held thousands of public protests in recent years over labor and economic issues and corruption by local officials. Security forces, however, have forcibly broken up many demonstrations, particularly those with overt political and social messages or where protesters became unruly. Police, for example, broke up a May protest in the town of Yaowan over a lack of adequate compensation for the more than one million villagers who will be displaced by the controversial Three Gorges Dam, the London-based The Economist magazine reported."

Document(s): Open document

31.03.2003 - Source: US Department of State

USDOS: Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association ("Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2002") [#11836],  [ID 3657]

"The Constitution provides for freedom of peaceful assembly; however, the Government severely restricted this right in practice. The Constitution stipulates that such activities may not challenge "Party leadership" or infringe upon the "interests of the State." Protests against the political system or national leaders were prohibited. Authorities denied permits and quickly moved to suppress demonstrations involving expression of dissenting political views.

At times police used excessive force against demonstrators. Demonstrations with political or social themes were often broken up quickly and violently. The most widely publicized demonstrations in recent years were those of the Falun Gong spiritual movement. [...]

The number of protests by individuals or small groups of FLG practitioners at Tiananmen Square remained very low during the year. Some observers attributed this to the effectiveness of the sustained government crackdown, which by the end of 2001 had essentially eliminated public manifestations of the movement. Authorities also briefly detained foreign practitioners who attempted to unfurl banners on Tiananmen Square or pass out leaflets, in most cases deporting them after a few hours.

In many cases, the authorities dealt with demonstrations about economic issues more leniently than with those that addressed political issues, but some economic demonstrations were dispersed by force. During the year, Ministry of Public Security publications indicated that the number of demonstrations was growing and that protesters were becoming more organized. According to the most recently available MPS report, in 1999 more than 100,000 demonstrations took place, up from 60,000 in 1998. Some of these demonstrations included thousands of participants. [...]

The Constitution provides for freedom of association; however, the Government restricted this right in practice. Communist Party policy and government regulations require that all professional, social, and economic organizations officially register with, and be approved by, the Government. Ostensibly aimed at restricting secret societies and criminal gangs, these regulations also prevent the formation of truly autonomous political, human rights, religious, environmental, labor, and youth organizations that might directly challenge government authority. Since 1999, all concerts, sports events, exercise classes, or other meetings of more than 200 persons required approval from Public Security authorities."

Document(s): Open document

31.03.2003 - Source: US Department of State

USDOS: Independent unions are illegal; the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) is the sole legal workers' organization ("Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2002") [#11836],  [ID 3658]

"The Constitution provides for freedom of association. However, in practice workers were not free to organize or join unions of their own choosing. The All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), which was controlled by the Communist Party and headed by a high-level party official, was the sole legal workers' organization. The Trade Union Law gives the ACFTU control over the establishment and operation of all subsidiary union organizations and activities throughout the country, including enterprise-level unions that, according to otherwise unsubstantiated ACFTU claims, increased threefold in the last 5 years to more than 1.6 million unions. Independent unions are illegal. The Tangxia Migrant Workers' Association, although established with the approval of local authorities in April, was shut down after 3 months of operation when authorities became concerned that it was exhibiting the characteristics of an independent union. The Trade Union Law allows workers to decide whether to join official unions in their enterprises. There were no reports of repercussions for the small percentage of workers in the state-owned sector who had not joined."

Document(s): Open document

14.01.2003 - Source: Amnesty International

AI: 'Subversion' charges used to imprison rights activists ("People's Republic of China: 'Subversion' charges must not be used to imprison rights activists") [#10338],  [ID 3659]

"Tomorrow (15 January 2003) two labour rights activists, Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang, are due to stand trial for organizing workers protests in March last year in Liaoyang city. They have reportedly been charged with "subversion" and there are serious concerns that they will not receive a fair trial.
[...]
Background:
Yao Fuxin, Xiao Yunliang, Wang Zhaoming and Pang Qingxiang were detained on 20 March 2002 for their alleged role in organizing demonstrations involving 30,000 workers from twenty bankrupt state-run firms in Liaoyang city, Liaoning province. The workers were protesting against lay-offs, alleged management corruption and delayed welfare payments. Wang Zhaoming and Pang Qingxiang were released on bail on 20 December 2002, reportedly on condition that they obtain evidence against other demonstrators. However, Wang Zhaoming, was detained once again on 31 December, after hiring a lawyer in an apparent attempt to sue the authorities for his ninth-month detention. Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang were initially charged with "illegal assembly and demonstration" but, according to a local court official this has since been changed to "subversion" ."

Document(s): Open document

07.05.2001 - Source: New York Times

New York Times: China arrests book club memebers ("China Arrests Book Club Members") [#1568],  [ID 3661]

"Chinese police arrested eight members of a book club that failed to ask for official permission to meet, the wife of one of those detained said Monday.
[...]
Police did not explain the arrests, but Xiao's wife said she thought it was because the book club had not registered with authorities before meeting.
The ruling Communist Party tries to control most organizations in China, from labor unions to churches. Chinese law requires organized social groups to register with the government.
[...]"

Document(s): Open document