China and International Human Rights
China and International Human Rights: This book is designed to introduce law students, legal actors and human rights activists, particularly participants in human rights dialogues with China, to ong>theong> process and reality of a newly confident China s participation in ong>theong> international human rights system, albeit with inherent challenges. From an international and comparative perspective, one of ong>theong> key findings of ong>theong> author's research is that progress towards human rights depends more on judges than on legislators. Chinese legislators have enacted a series of reforms in order to better protect human rights. Unfortunately, ong>theong>se reforms have not led to greater adherence to China s international human rights obligations in practice. ong>Theong> reforms failed because ong>theong>y have generally been misunderstood by Chinese judges, who often have a limited understanding of international human rights norms. Specifically, this book will examine how judicial misunderstandings have blocked reforms in one specific area, ong>theong> use of severe punishments, based on international human rights ong>theong>ory and case studies and data analyses. This examination has several purposes. ong>Theong> first is to suggest that China ratify ong>theong> ICCPR as ong>theong> next step for its substantive progress in human rights and as a good preparation for its re-applying to be a member of ong>theong> UN Human Right Council in ong>theong> future. ong>Theong> second is to explain how judges could be better educated in international human rights norms so as to greatly reduce ong>theong> use of severe punishments and better comply with China's human rights obligations. ong>Theong> third is to demonstrate how ong>theong> international community could better engage with China in a manner that is more conducive to human rights improvements. ong>Theong> author's ultimate goal is to enhance dialogue on human rights in China between judges and ong>theong> Chinese government, between Chinese judges and ong>theong>ir foreign counterparts and between China's government and ong>theong> international community. Anoong>theong>r significant aim of this book is to clarify ong>theong> controversial question of what obligations China should undertake before its ratification of ong>theong> ICCPR and to re-examine trends in its developing human rights policy after standing down from ong>theong> Council in late . ong>Theong> tortuous progress of China s criminal law and criminal justice reforms has confirmed that Chinese judges need furong>theong>r instruction on how to apply severe punishments in a manner consistent with international standards. Judges should be encouraged to exercise more discretion when sentencing so that penalties reflect ong>theong> intent of relevant domestic laws as well as ong>theong> international human rights standards enumerated in ong>theong> ICCPR. In order to better educate and train judges, this book contains introductory chapters that examine ong>theong> severe punishments currently available to Chinese judges from an international human rights perspective. To illustrate how Chinese justice currently falls short of international norms, this paper also examines several cases that are considered to be indicative of China s progress towards greater respect for human rights and ong>theong> rule of law. ong>Theong>se cases demonstrate that China still has a long way to go to achieve its goals, at least before abolishing ong>theong> death penalty, forced labor and torture.