China silences human rights activist and declares human rights issues as "secret affairs of the state"

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) accuses the Chinese government of trying to silence human rights activists who are planning to inform the United Nations in Geneva on the situation in the People's Republic next week. "In China, human rights activists who were planning to travel to Geneva are being arrested," reported the STP’s Asia-consultant, Ulrich Delius, in Göttingen on Thursday. "Thus, Chinese people will only be able to inform the United Nations about human rights violations if they live in Hong Kong or in exile." Even these activists are under pressure – and there has also been a clear attempt to intimidate the STP: China insists that the United Nations reveal who was accredited for the UN meeting on behalf of the Göttingen-based international human rights organization.

In the course of its global human rights report (Universal Periodic Review), the United Nations will hold a second hearing in Geneva on October 22, focusing on the human rights situation in China. The first hearing in 2009 was a disappointment: The Chinese diplomats had brusquely rejected all recommendations by human rights organizations or state representatives.

The case of Ms. Cao Shunli is a vivid example of the arbitrary measures of the Chinese authorities against human rights activists. On September 14, 2013, the human rights activist was stopped from leaving the country at the Beijing airport by the Chinese Foreign Ministry and officially arrested on September 28. Earlier, on August 23, a court in Beijing had rejected a claim by which she (together with 66 other human rights activists) had tried to enforce the disclosure of all official documents regarding the UPR process. The court decided that these "secret documents" should not be published. "We would like to know why it's a state secret that people are still being tortured in Chinese police stations, although the country signed the UN Anti-Torture Convention more than 20 years ago," said Delius. More than 60 human rights activist were arrested in China since the beginning of the year.

By keeping human rights activist from taking part in the UN conference, the Chinese government is violating the rules of the United Nations Convention on the involvement of NGOs. Prior to the Geneva conference, the human rights activists compiled a list of more than 40 recommendations to improve the human rights situation in China. On Wednesday, human rights experts demanded Beijing to release all human rights defenders who had been arrested while preparing for the UN Conference.