Elementor #167446

联合声明

呼吁中国政府尊重言论、新闻以及集会自由

停止使用暴力驱离、搜捕和平示威人士

我们以下团体联合发出声明，要求中国政府恪守其宪法以及其为缔约成员的联合国《禁止酷刑和其它残忍、不人道或有辱人格的待遇或处罚公约》的义务，并作为《公民与政治权利国际公约》签署国的承诺，尊重其人民的隐私、言论、出版并和平集会与结社的自由，停止以暴力或法外手段，滥用刑典，对待行使其基本人权和自由的民众。

由悼念新疆维吾尔自治区首府乌鲁木齐火灾引发的街头集会和抗议活动，连日在中国多个城市蔓延，群众表达对清零政策带来的严厉封控措施以至对当权者的不满，部份人士手持白纸，并诉求公民的人权与基本自由。这是典型的官逼民反，也是民众对威权长期以高压手段管治的必然反弹。

虽然部分地方政府宣布缓和防疫措施，试图为抗议活动降温，但据悉，中国官方已在各地展开搜捕行动，部分被捕者更失去联络，恐怕已被强迫失踪。我们亦注意到，警察正在干预律师介入个案，有律师受到当局警告不能参与个案，亦有律师的电话通讯受到阻截。警察也在街头截查公民的电子器材，强迫他们删除通话软体以及与抗议有关的内容和照片。由於缺乏透明而可靠的官方资讯，我们极度关注有关情况可能达至的规模和严重性，同时呼吁国际社会继续监督事态发展，并谴责所有与此次镇压有关的人权违反事件。

我们特别指出，中华人民共和国宪法除了第35条保障公民有「言论、出版、集会、结社、游行、示威」的自由，第40条确认公民的通信自由和通信秘密受法律的保护外，第41条亦保障公民有向任何国家机关和国家工作人员，提出批评和建议的权利。中国的刑事诉讼法亦赋予犯罪嫌疑人和被告各种刑事程序上的保障和规范，包括家属适时获得通知、被告获得律师代表及会见、公正审判的权利。中国在1988年批准的《禁止酷刑公约》亦严禁一切形式的酷刑和不人道对待。《公民与政治权利国际公约》第19条和21条分别保障表达自由和和平集会的权利。

就此，我们要求中国政府立即：

  1. 尊重宪法赋予的隐私权并和平集会和表达的权利和自由，确保警察的所有行动都符合国际准则，包括《联合国执法人员使用武力与火器的基本原则》的规范。

  2. 停止追捕因参与和平抗议的所有人士，并确保所有遭受暴力对待的人士得到有效的救济。

  3. 停止监控、骚扰、虐待、搜查和任意拘捕独立报导抗议事件的记者和新闻自由捍卫者。

  4. 公布因近日和平抗议而被扣押人员数目及其被指控罪名。

  5. 确保相关被拘禁人士的家人获得通知其所在及其被指控罪名。

  6. 确保目前因此次抗议行动被拘禁人士的身心安全，并保障其基本权利包括会见及自行选任律师。

  7. 停止干预、骚扰和恐吓律师和法律专业人士，以及其他公开关注和接受相关案件委托者。

 

联署(依英文名字母排序)

 

  1. 国际特赦组织

  2. Article 19

  3. 亚洲公民未来协会

  4. 北京之春

  5. 维吾尔运动

  6. 改变中国

  7. 中国政治犯关注

  8. 对华援助协会

  9. 中国人权捍卫者 

  10. Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)

  11. 公民力量

  12. 中国良心犯关注组

  13. 台中好民文化行动协会

  14. 民主中国 

  15. 对话中国

  16. 财团法人陈文成博士纪念基金会

  17. 自由之家 

  18. 前线卫士

  19. 西藏台湾人权连线

  20. Human Rights Now

  21. 人权观察 

  22. 人道中国

  23. 香港民主委员会

  24. 香港监察

  25. 独立中文笔会

  26. 国际人民律师协会 

  27. 国际人权服务社 

  28. 国际西藏网路秘书处

  29. 财团法人民间司法改革基金会

  30. 民主中国

  31. 社团法人华人民主书院协会

  32. 无国界记者组织

  33. 保护卫士

  34. 自由西藏学生运动

  35. 台湾废除死刑推动联盟

  36. 台湾人权促进会

  37. 台湾民间真相与和解促进会

  38. 台湾永社

  39. 台湾劳工阵线协会

  40. 行动山栈花

  41. 台湾声援中国人权律师网络

  42. Th Rights Practice

  43. 台湾联合国协进会

  44. 29原则

  45. 西藏人权与民主中心

  46. Tibet Justice Center

  47. 美国维吾尔族协会

  48. 维吾尔人权项目

  49. 世界维吾尔代表大会

Joint Statement

Respect Freedoms of Expression, Press and Assembly in China

Stop violent crackdown and arrests of peaceful protesters

We, the undersigned, call on the Chinese government to strictly abide by its obligations under the Chinese Constitution and the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, as well as its commitment as a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and respect peoples’ basic rights to privacy, freedom of expression, press, association and peaceful assembly.  The Chinese government should cease abusing the criminal code to detain peaceful protesters, harassing those who defend protesters’ rights, and immediately halt, investigate and prosecute any use of violence or extrajudicial measures by authorities against those who exercise their basic human rights and freedoms.

Over the past week, peaceful rallies and protests triggered by mourning the victims of the fatal fire in Urumqi have spread in a number of cities in China.  People took to the streets to express their frustration with the severe lockdowns measures brought about by the zero-COVID policy.  Some held white sheets of paper, expressed their discontent with the government or appealed for their human rights and fundamental freedoms. This set of protests is an example of people standing up to the repressive rule of an authoritarian regime.

Although some local governments have announced relaxed quarantine measures in an attempt to calm the protests, we understand that the Chinese authorities are at the same time cracking down on protesters across the country, and that some of those arrested have gone missing and are feared to have been forcibly disappeared.  It has also come to our attention that the authorities are interfering with the protesters’ right to legal representation. Some lawyers have been warned by local authorities not to take up the cases, some others have had incoming calls to their mobile phones suddenly cut. Police have also stopped citizens on the street, inspected their electronic devices, and forced them to delete certain applications, content, and photos related to the protests on their phones. Given the lack of credible and transparent official information, we are extremely concerned about the possible magnitude and seriousness of the situation. We urge the international community to continue to monitor the situation and to condemn the ongoing rights abuses associated with the crackdown.

We would like to point out in particular that Article 35 of the People’s Republic of China Constitution guarantees citizens the freedom of “speech, press, assembly, association, procession, and demonstration,”; Article 40 protects citizens’ right to protection of and non-interference with their privacy of correspondence; and Article 41 stipulates that citizens have the right to criticize any state agency or staff and to make recommendations. China’s Criminal Procedure Law also guarantees the basic rights for suspects and defendants in the criminal process, including but not limited to the right to timely notification of family members, the rights to be represented and seen by lawyers, and the right to fair trial. The UN Convention against Torture, which China ratified in 1988, forbids all forms of torture and ill treatment.  Article 19 and 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights furthermore enshrine the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

In this regard, we call on the Chinese government to immediately:

  1. Respect the rights to privacy and to freedoms of peaceful assembly and expression enshrined in the Constitution and international human rights law, and ensure all police responses are in line with international standards, including the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials; 

  2. Stop pursuing persons involved in peaceful protests, and ensure that anyone subject to violations of their rights can seek effective remedy;

  3. Stop surveilling, harassing, mistreating, searching and arbitrarily arresting journalists and press freedom defenders for independently reporting on the protests;

  4. Publish the number of persons detained for taking part in peaceful protests; provide details of their alleged crimes;

  5. Ensure that the family members of all those deprived of liberty are notified of their whereabouts and the charges made against them;

  6. Ensure the physical and psychological safety and wellbeing of all those currently deprived of liberty on grounds related to the recent protests, and guarantee their rights, including to meet with a lawyer of their own choice; and

  7. Stop interfering with, harassing and intimidating lawyers and legal professionals, human rights defenders, and others who openly express concern about the protesters or who defend the right to peaceful protest.



Co-signatories (in alphabetical order)

 

  1. Amnesty International

  2. Article 19

  3. Asia Citizen Future Association

  4. Beijing Spring 

  5. Campaign For Uyghurs 

  6. China Change 

  7. China Political Prisoner Concern

  8. ChinaAid 

  9. Chinese Human Rights Defenders  

  10. Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)

  11. Citizen Power Initiatives for China 

  12. Concern Group for Prisoners of Conscience in China

  13. Cosmopolitan Culture Action Taichung

  14. Democratic China

  15. Dialogue China

  16. Dr. Chen Wen-chen Memorial Foundation

  17. Freedom House 

  18. Front Line Defenders

  19. Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan

  20. Human Rights Now

  21. Human Rights Watch 

  22. Humanitarian China

  23. Hong Kong Democracy Council

  24. Hong Kong Watch

  25. Independent Chinese PEN Center

  26. International Association of People’s Lawyers 

  27. International Service for Human Rights 

  28. International Tibet Network Secretariat

  29. Judicial Reform Foundation 

  30. MinZhuZhongGuo 

  31. New School for Democracy Association

  32. Reporters Without Borders 

  33. Safeguard Defenders

  34. Students for a Free Tibet

  35. Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty

  36. Taiwan Association for Human Rights

  37. Taiwan Association for Truth and Reconciliation 

  38. Taiwan Forever Association 

  39. Taiwan Labour Front

  40. Taiwan Lily

  41. Taiwan Support China Human Rights Lawyers Network

  42. The Rights Practice

  43. The Taiwan United Nations Alliance 

  44. The 29 Principles

  45. Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy 

  46. Tibet Justice Center

  47. Uyghur American Association 

  48. Uyghur Human Rights Project

  49. World Uyghur Congress