Annual Report on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders in China ...

<strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders in China (2009)April 26, 2010C. The rights to participate in the government and in the conduct of public affairs“1. Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to haveeffective access, on a nondiscriminatory basis, to participation in the governmentof his or her country and in the conduct of public affairs.2. This includes, inter alia, the right, individually and in association with others,to submit to governmental bodies and agencies and organizations concerned withpublic affairs criticism and proposals for improving their functioning and to drawattention to any aspect of their work that may hinder or impede the promotion,protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”- Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, Article 8Despite promising to “expand citizens’ participation in political affairs in an orderly wayat all levels and in all sectors” 77 and “guarantee the people’s right of democraticsupervision” 78 in its National Human Rights Action Plan 2009-2010 (hereafter referred toas “the Action Plan”) published in April, the Chinese government remained intolerant ofpolitical organizing outside of its control. In 2009, it cracked down harshly on individualswho attempted to organize political parties or made calls for political reform. Humanrights defenders had no effective means to participate in the government and in theconduct of public affairs in 2009.Political participation was limited to monitoring, voting, and running for office in villagecommittee elections. Apart from that, the primary methods through which ordinarycitizens could participate in government affairs in 2009 were the submission of openletters or legislative proposals to the government. The government continued to solicitopinions on draft legislation, and received thousands of comments on some drafts, but itwas unclear to what extent these comments were taken into consideration during thelegislative process. The government proved unwelcoming to any unsolicited proposals,and in some cases responded to calls for reform, such as Charter 08, with wellcoordinatedand wide-reaching retaliation. Likewise, if human rights defenders voicedtheir opinions on how local officials conducted village elections—by protesting about theoutcome, or publicizing voting irregularities, for example—they risked punishment.1. Open letters and legislative proposalsMost open letters were addressed to the government and its leaders at the central level,such as members of the National People’s Congress (NPC), but some were directed toofficials at the provincial or local level. 79 The letter drafters, as well as their topics anddemands, were diverse. For example:• A number of lawyers and activists released a public letter on December 17 toofficial media outlets, demanding abolition of Article 306 of the Criminal Law 80and criticizing the press for what they believed to be biased or incorrect reportingregarding the case of Li Zhuang ( a Beijing lawyer who was tried for 李21庄 ),