Human Rights in China's (HRIC) Incorporating Responsibility: 2008 (IR2008) campaign is an integrated research and monitoring project targeting a range of actors to advocate scrutiny of the Chinese government's human rights practices. The focus for IR2008 is guided by three benchmarks--the release of all political prisoners, removing censorship and surveillance of the Internet, and greater investment in social welfare to ensure equitable development--as measures of progress in promoting and respecting freedom of expression and information, civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights. http://www.ir2008.org/ en-us Thu, 23 Feb 2006 14:25:37 EST 60 http://www.ir2008.org/ http://ir2008.org/img/utils/logo-small.gif 86 128 Human Rights in China's (HRIC) Incorporating Responsibility: 2008 (IR2008) campaign is an integrated research and monitoring project targeting a range of actors to advocate scrutiny of the Chinese government's human rights practices in the build up to the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics.
The House drafters view the current version as a "work-in progress" that is still in need of further development. HRIC agrees and has submitted the following suggestions and comments for strengthening and clarifying the draft as released on February 16, 2006.

General Comments

• As a reference point for standards and norms, a final bill must cite and incorporate emerging international law with respect to the human rights responsibilities of businesses, including the UN Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights (UN Norms). Instead of vague minimum standards as an operating principle, the revised bill should clearly articulate a legal and normative standard that sets a reasonable standard for responsible conduct by U.S. companies.
  
  Looking to existing precedent for standards of care and approaches for determining liability for harmful acts would be useful. For example, the reasonableness standard of care has been applied in the human rights context with respect to the liability of companies, such as those in the extractive industries in Latin America.
  
  
• The framework for regulating the activities of companies should clearly reference their multiple roles as investors, managers and operators, personnel training, and trading partners, in addition to their role as service providers.

]]> http://ir2008.org/article.php?sid=143 Mon, 10 Apr 2006 21:00:00 EST Li Zhi, 35, a graduate of the Xinan Institute of Finance, was a finance official in the Dazhou municipal government in the province of Sichuan prior to his arrest.

Li was initially detained on August 8, 2003, and formally arrested in September 2003 by the Sichuan Province State Security Police on charges of "conspiracy to subvert state power".

Following his conviction on December 10, 2003, Li Zhi's February 26, 2004 appellate ruling upheld his eight year imprisonment sentence on charges stemming from his application for membership in the China Democracy Party, his subsequent activities as a member, and from his creation of a personal Web site publishing and posting essays describing "the struggle for Chinese democracy and freedom."

The case against Li Zhi was built upon witness testimony and Li Zhi's online activities, including the content of numerous e-mails sent to and from his e-mail accounts. Among the evidence used to convict Li Zhi was witness testimony stating that he had inquired about methods of circumventing Internet censorship in order to access overseas Web sites.

The appellate ruling stated that Yahoo! Holdings (HK) Ltd. provided evidence during the trial connecting Li Zhi to his yahoo.com.cn e-mail address.]]> http://ir2008.org/article.php?sid=142 Mon, 10 Apr 2006 18:35:00 EST
Excerpt:
"The 2005 State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices is an important monitoring tool for advancing the U.S. government's commitment to promoting the observance of internationally recognized human rights by all countries. Through its in-depth analysis of human rights violations in countries around the world, it will help to ensure that gross human rights violations will not be easily trumped by security and trade agendas.

While noting some positive developments in China, the 2005 State Department's human rights report presents a sobering inventory of the serious and ongoing human rights violations there. Despite improvement in some limited human rights areas, the situation is generally deteriorating and remains serious for NGOs, petitioners, political dissidents, human rights defenders, and others that deal with subjects the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) considers sensitive. By including individual cases, naming rights defenders, activists, and journalists in detention, the report keeps human beings in the picture and does not relegate them to faceless statistics. The detention of one journalist, lawyer or rural activist also has a broader silencing, intimidating and undermining impact on the rights of all journalists, lawyers and rights activists.

Unfortunately, the annual State Department report also underscores the difficulty and challenge of promoting systemic and structural human rights progress under an authoritarian regime that is also a powerful economic and political global actor. An important challenge for the State Department and Congress is how to get more traction out of these valuable reports."

HRIC's full written testimony can be read on IR2008.org.]]> http://ir2008.org/article.php?sid=9 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 12:00:00 EST HRIC's Article Alerts blog is a monthly compilation of selected human rights-related articles covered in local and regional Chinese and English news magazines and academic journals compiled by HRIC.The blog does not purport to be comprehensive, but aims to highlight the latest developments on important human rights issues. http://hric-articlealerts.blogspot.com/ Mon, 13 Mar 2006 12:00:00 EST
In its previous trends bulletin, HRIC examined the deepening social unrest in China's countryside as a possible impetus behind the government's renewed efforts to boost combat effectiveness and tighten control over media coverage.]]> http://hrichina.org/public/contents/27228 Fri, 17 Feb 2006 12:00:00 EST
Chaired by Christopher Smith (R-NJ), the hearing included testimony from Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, and Cisco representatives, as well as from representatives from the State Department and NGOs.

HRIC, one of the NGO witnesses, submitted both written and oral testimony.]]> http://ir2008.org/article.php?sid=140 Wed, 15 Feb 2006 12:00:00 EST HRIC's Article Alerts blog is a monthly compilation of selected human rights-related articles covered in local and regional Chinese and English news magazines and academic journals compiled by HRIC.The blog does not purport to be comprehensive, but aims to highlight the latest developments on important human rights issues. http://hric-articlealerts.blogspot.com/ Mon, 13 Feb 2006 12:00:00 EST
Widely read both domestically and abroad, Anti's blog at MSN Spaces was abruptly shut down by Microsoft on December 31, 2005.[1] Visitors were greeted with a "Space not available" error message.

Anti has since re-opened his blog at the US-hosted Blog City—although his domestic readers will no longer be able to visit it as access to Blog City is blocked for mainland Chinese Internet users.

On January 14, 2006, Anti issued an open statement regarding his views on the unexpected closure of his MSN Spaces blog and the recent congressional briefings and hearings concerning human rights and the Internet in China.

HRIC has provided an unofficial translation of Anti's statement]]> http://ir2008.org/article.php?sid=138 Wed, 8 Feb 2006 12:00:00 EST
Google joins a host of other leading technology companies, including Microsoft and Yahoo, who have bowed to Chinese government demands in attempts to gain ground among the growing Chinese online population. Rather than exercising corporate leadership, these companies and others have instead engaged in "a race to the bottom," making concessions that curtail freedom of expression and access to information in China.

On January 26, 2006, HRIC conducted several Web search queries on google.com (both English and Simplified Chinese language interfaces), google.cn, and google.com.tw. HRIC looked at both general subjects and current 'hot topics'. The searches used both English and Chinese search terms, concentrating on the latter as the majority of search engine users would be entering Chinese queries.]]> http://ir2008.org/article.php?sid=135 Thu, 2 Feb 2006 12:00:00 EST
In its previous trends bulletin, HRIC examined the deepening social unrest in China's countryside as a possible impetus behind the government's renewed efforts to boost combat effectiveness and tighten control over media coverage.]]> http://hrichina.org/public/contents/26823 Tue, 31 Jan 2006 12:00:00 EST The information contained in this summary is based on information collected by HRIC in January 2006 and is not intended as a complete list. Rather, it should be viewed as a representation of larger trends of dissent and repression in China. http://hrichina.org/public/contents/26823 Tue, 31 Jan 2006 12:00:00 EST
The rights to freedom of expression, access to information, and freedom of association are increasingly impacted by the presence of international corporations in China. These are also areas in which corporate leadership and vision could make a contribution and a difference, and in which the development of the international legal framework with regard to business is critical.

Overview

Article 35 of the Chinese Constitution protects "freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration," and other constitutional provisions protect freedom of privacy of correspondence (article 40), and the right to criticize the government (article 41).

However, the right to freedom of expression is constrained in China through the criminal and state secrets legal framework, and supported by broader police and social controls as well as sophisticated technology censorship and surveillance tools. HRIC and other groups have documented an increasing and disproportionate invocation of state secrets crimes against lawyers, journalists, Internet activists and other human rights defenders as a means of controlling dissent.

The state secrets framework criminalizes the distribution of information determined by government departments to be classified on criteria including whether it is harmful to national security. Publicly available information can also be retroactively classified if it is deemed to have caused harmful consequences. The definition of what constitutes a state secret, however, "matters that affect the security and interests of the state" (PRC Law on the Protection of State Secrets, Art. 2), is extremely broad and the restriction on freedom of expression goes far beyond the "least restrictive" standard as required under international law.]]> http://ir2008.org/article.php?sid=134 Tue, 31 Jan 2006 12:00:00 EST