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China’s Global Threat to Human Rights

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China’s Global Threat to Human Rights

Human Rights Watch,

5 min read
4 take-aways
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What's inside?

China is on a global mission to eradicate international human rights norms. 

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9

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China has always viewed the international human rights regime with suspicion. Indeed, the country has long framed the concept of human rights itself as a Western imposition and a violation of countries’ rights to sovereignty. But in recent years, China has escalated its ideological opposition to rights enforcement into a full-blown campaign against the principles and institutions upholding international human rights norms. Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, offers a detailed examination of China’s systematic efforts to undermine human rights at home and abroad.

Summary

The Chinese government has set up an internal surveillance state that is unprecedented in human history. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are ruling their country without popular mandate. The government has, so far, justified its strong grip on power by pointing to the country’s economic successes. As the Chinese economy slows, however, the risk of unrest grows. Deeply fearful of public opinion, the Chinese government is preoccupied with censoring information, suppressing criticism of Party policies, and round-the-clock monitoring of its citizens.

The region of Xinjiang, home to 13 million Muslims, is a focal point of the CCP’s political repression. As part of a highly intrusive public surveillance system, CCP party officials spend time at Muslim families’ homes and deploy video cameras and facial-recognition technology to track people’s activities. Over a million Muslims whom the system has identified as disloyal to the state are currently detained in so-called “reeducation” camps, where they are undergoing...

About the Author

Kenneth Roth is Executive Director of Human Rights Watch. 

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