The vast inconsistency between the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) official participation at United Nations human rights reviews and its actual record of gross human rights violations are once again a focus in Geneva at the United Nation’s Human Rights Council. At the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the PRC on January 23, 2024, a large PRC delegation was on site, spouting upbeat propaganda. But the hundreds of new laws enacted in China since the 2018 UPR, which the delegation insists are anchoring human rights in China, are not a human rights success story and instead depict a decimation of rights and expanded authoritarian control. Moreover, the PRC’s behind-the-scenes tactics at the U.N. to distort and dilute international human rights norms have been reported by civil society groups. These include efforts to deny a voice to independent civil society; the harassment of Chinese, Tibetan, Uyghur, Hong Kong, and other human rights defenders; and various forms of coercion to pressure Member states into overlooking incontrovertible evidence of PRC human rights violations.
The UPR remains a valuable platform for the international community to publicly call out the PRC on its actual record of human rights violations and to recommend specific actions for the PRC to enact the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights instruments. One week after the PRC’s Universal Periodic Review, the Commission will hold a hearing to examine the PRC’s claims during its UPR session and assess options for U.S. human rights diplomacy moving forward. Expert testimony will highlight tactics the PRC uses to deflect international criticism of its human rights record and to reshape international human rights norms. The hearing will also focus on the submissions and recommendations of human rights defenders and civil society, amplifying the voices of Chinese citizens, advocates, and victims of PRC repression and provide a fuller picture of human rights conditions in China.
Witness:
Rana Sui Inboden: Senior Fellow with the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas-Austin
Sophie Luo: wife of detained Chinese human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi
Additional witnesses may be added.