Human Rights

After Austria protested against China's detention of Ai Weiwei, a Chinese FM spokeswoman urged foreign governments not even to "comment on the issue", saying, "We hope that the outside can respect China's judicial sovereignty and judicial authorities handling the issue in accordance with the law."

Human Rights

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention demanded the Chinese government to immediately release Gao Zhisheng, a prominent human rights lawyer who has been detained for nearly a year. The Group said that "the detention violated international law because Gao’s disappearance was punishment for exercising his fundamental human rights and because the government failed to meet even the minimum international standards for due process,” In response, a Chinese FM spokeswoman said she was unaware of Gao's whereabouts, but that the UN should respect China's "judicial sovereignty", as "China is a country ruled by law, with an independent judiciary that handles cases."

Human Rights

As the UN General Assembly decided by consensus to suspend Libya's membership of the UN Human Rights Council, a Chinese delegate to the UN said China joined the consensus "in view of the extremely exceptional situation now in Libya and concerns and views expressed by Arab and African countries", and that Libyan suspension "does not constitute a precedent".

Human Rights

The Chinese Government published a white paper on human rights in China in 2009, claiming that "the overall cause of human rights has been promoted in an all-round way." Much of the white paper discusses how China's growing economy was raising living standards and providing better education, and it admits that “there is still much room for improvement in its human rights conditions.”.

Human Rights - Racial Discrimination
Hong Kong

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued its conclusions on the racial situation in Hong Kong, criticising the SAR Government for failing to adopt the treaty definition of racial discrimination and adopting the rule that requires domestic helpers to leave the city within two weeks upon termination of their contract.

Human Rights - Racial Discrimination
Hong Kong

The Hong Kong delegation responded to questions at a hearing before the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination which focused on Hong Kong's Race Discrimination Ordinance and her new screening procedures for torture claimants. Hong Kong's responses elicited complaints from NGO delegatess.

Human Rights - Death Penalty

The Supreme People's Court indicated that the death penalty should be used less often and for only the most serious crimes. The Court overturned 15 per cent of death sentences handed down by lower courts in 2007 and 10 per cent in 2008. AI had reported that China executed at least 1,718 people in 2008.