(Dear English readers and friends,
We invite you to read the draft translation for us and give us suggestions for improvement. Our contact info is: xiuxianxiaozu@gmail.com Thank you.)
Dear fellow Chinese citizens,
The authors are the launching group of the constitutional
amendment campaign of Chinese citizens.
We the launching group hold that the current Constitution of the People’s
Republic of China (“the Constitution”), as the supreme law of the country, has
disregarded and defied human rights and liberty of Chinese citizens, resulting
in serious rights violations on individuals and groups. The following cases demonstrate serious
problems regarding human rights under the Constitution:
1.
Xia Junfeng’s case Vs. Bo Gu
Kailai’s case: Although both cases involved homicide, Xia obviously had no
malice or pre-intention to kill. He, a
street vender, killed the urban management officers with his knife (a working
tool) when trying to defend himself as the latter severely beat him, but
consequently was sentenced to death penalty with immediate effect; while the
urban management officers who severely beat Xia Junfeng was officially
recognized as martyr and rewarded 900 thousand RMB national compensation! Bo Gu Kailai deliberately killed a British
citizen Hywood under no external attack or manslaughter, but escaped the death
penalty with immediate effect. Comparing
both cases, we learn that everyone is not equal before law. The fact is that officials enjoy higher legal
status than citizens.
2.
Free people are not free (e.g.,
Chen Guangcheng, Liu Xia, and Hu Jia have been long confined in their homes
under illegal harassment and violence from the police). The government denies citizens’ freedom at
their own discretion under the excuse of executing laws, and thus denied that
freedom be inborn and inalienable human rights. That the government can violate
human rights at will demonstrate that government enjoys higher legal status
than citizens.
3.
Freedom of religion is not
safeguarded and freedom of thoughts & conscience is denied.
Article 18 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms
that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, but
in China, the Falungong practitioners and the entire groups of rights defense
lawyers are persecuted. Government causes many rights violation cases on
dissidents and residents who protest for environment issues or judicial
justices. Other rights disasters linger on in everyone’s mind such as more than
100 Tibetan self-immolation cases as protest for freedom of religion and the
June 4th Massacre in 1989 when the PLA field army intruded into
Beijing city under the martial law, resulting in casualties of thousands of
peaceful protesters including Beijing residents as well as students…. All these
cases involve serious rights violations, because the Constitution does not
recognize the freedom of thoughts, conscience and religion. Instead, the Constitution affirms the teachings
of Marxism, Mao Zedong thoughts and patriotism (See preamble of the
Constitution). By this means, the
Constitution harshly restricts the freedom of religion under the rule that “Religious
bodies and religious affairs are not subject to any foreign domination.” The freedom of demonstrations, protests,
strikes and assemblies are thus restricted under similar excuse.
These cases may not directly concern you but some articles surely
directly affect you, e.g. residential registration mechanism. You lose your freedom of movement and
residence under this mechanism (the freedom of movement and residence is one of
the fundamental rights in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights). Where you were born becomes your “home”
land. According to law, your freedom of moving
and residing in other places is legally restricted or curbed. Because of the residential registration
system, Chinese citizens are not equal in respects of human rights and
dignity. A citizen born in Beijing,
though Chinese citizen like all others enjoys privileges in terms of education,
cultural lives, urban facilities, medical care and pensions! Even among Beijing citizens, people born in
different districts of Beijing city are treated unfairly in regards of
education and development opportunities.
We the launching group hold that the reason why violation of human
rights is so extensive in China is that the Constitution _ the supreme law stipulates
many articles in defiance of human rights. Under this “Emperor-styled” Law (the
traditional written or oral commandments that were especially made to monger
and oppress people in the centrally controlled authoritarianism regime, plus the
“fundamental principles from the god”), Chinese citizens are deprived of their
rights and liberty defined by the international laws.
China, the first state in the world that signed the Charter of the United
Nations and the council state of the United Nations, should undertake the
obligations to observe the Charter and other signed and ratified international
conventions and protocols (“The International Laws”). The Preamble of the Charter of the United
Nations iterates in the beginning “WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS
DETERMINED to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice
in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in
fundamental human rights…. have agreed to the present Charter of the United
Nations and do hereby establish an international organisation to be known as
the United Nations.” Till today, China
has signed and approved the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, the “International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights” and the “United Nations
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment” (“Convention against Torture”), and signed “the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” (to be ratified).
According to the explanation published on the official website of
the UN, the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” together with “the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” and its two optional
protocols and the “International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights” is called “International human rights law”. Based on this we believe that Chinese
government is obliged to ensure by the Constitution that the international
human rights law and the “Convention against Torture” be observed and followed. In order to respect human rights, the human
rights law has to be the supreme law of the county, i.e., the
Constitution. Only in this way, we can
make sure that human rights are the first and utmost mission and responsibility
of the government.
The UN affirms that the principle of universality of human rights is
the cornerstone of international human rights law. All human rights are
indivisible, whether they are civil and political rights, such as the right to
life, equality before the law and freedom of expression; economic, social and
cultural rights, such as the rights to work, social security and education, or
collective rights, such as the rights to development and self-determination,
are indivisible, interrelated and interdependent. The deprivation of one right
adversely affects the others.
On careful comparison between the current Constitution and the
relevant international laws regarding human rights, we find out that Chinese
Constitution severely break the International human rights law and the “Convention
against Torture” by tactful means, as described in the following:
1.
Deny the freedom of thought and
conscience by keeping silent, and meantime stipulate anti-freedom of thought
and conscience rules in the name of building spiritual civilization.
Article 18 of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that “everyone has the right
to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.”
However, the
Constitution keeps silent with the freedom of thought and conscience, instead
Article 24 of the Constitution states “The state strengthens the building of
socialist spiritual civilization through spreading education in high ideals
and morality, general education and education in discipline and the legal
system, and through promoting the formulation and observance of rules of
conduct and common pledges by different sections of the people in urban and
rural areas,” meantime it also articulates, “The state advocates the civic
virtues of love for the motherland, for the people, for labour, for science and
for socialism; it educates the people in patriotism, collectivism,
internationalism and communism and in dialectical and historical materialism;
it combats the decadent ideas of capitalism and feudalism and other decadent
ideas.” That is to say, the state uses
the excuse of “building spiritual civilization” to control people’s thoughts,
deprive the people of the right to freedom of independent thoughts and
conscience, and preach patriotism, Marxism and Leninism and define these as the
“socialist civic virtues” and list all the other thoughts as “capitalism,
feudalism and other decadent ideas”.
This article sharply contradicts against Article 18 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights that “everyone has the right to freedom of thought,
conscience”.
2.
Superficially admit freedom of religion, but meantime restrict or deprive
the freedom of religion by using extralegal restrictions
In respect of
religion, Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that
everyone has the right to freedom of religion; this right includes freedom to
change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with
others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in
teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Although article 36 of the Constitution claims that citizens of the
People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of religious belief, such freedom
is restricted by the following pre-set conditions that “no one may make use of
religion to engage in activities that disrupt public order, impair the health
of citizens or interfere with the educational system of the state. Religious
bodies and religious affairs are not subject to any foreign domination.” Thus Chinese government manages to use
article 36 of the Constitution to persecute Falungong practitioners in the name
of “wicked religion”; Muslims in Sinkiang in the name of “disrupting public
order” as well as Tibetan Buddhists and Christians practicing religion in
private churches in the name of “subject to foreign domination”.
3.
Deny human rights by citing other articles in the Constitution.
International human rights law affirms that human rights
are rights inherent to all human beings and human rights entail both rights and
obligations. In regards with rights and
obligations, UN explains that both individuals and states have to undertake
obligations. At the individual level,
while we are entitled our human rights, we should also respect the human rights
of others. For the states, states assume
obligations and duties under international law to respect, to protect and to
fulfill human rights. The
obligation to respect means that States must refrain from interfering with or
curtailing the enjoyment of human rights.
Nevertheless, in chapter 2 of the Constitution, THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF CITIZENS,
it is stated that the state respect and protect human rights, but emphasis
on the other side that “every citizen enjoys the rights and at the same time
must perform the duties prescribed by the constitution and the law”. This is to say enjoying rights have pre-set
conditions; rights are not inherent to all human beings and inalienable. This pre-set condition is “abide by the law”. As a result, when laws restrict or deprive
human rights, citizens consequently lose their inherent and inalienable rights
in order to “abide by the law”.
In addition to that, article 19 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights says everyone “has the right to freedom of
opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without
interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any
media and regardless of frontiers.” Article 20 (1) says everyone “has the right
to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.”
Although article 35 of the Constitution says
citizens of the People's Republic of China “enjoy freedom of speech, of the
press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration”,
article 1 of the Constitution stipulates “the socialist system is the basic system
of the People’s Republic of China. Sabotage of the socialist system by any
organization or individual is prohibited.”
The so-called freedoms of the citizens are deprived in the name of “sabotaging
the socialist system”. The hundreds of citizens
became criminals of conscience in names of “incited subversion of the
government”, “illegal assembly” and “sabotaging the public order”, just because
they requested officials to publically report their assets and called for
ending the one-party rule authoritarianism by publically showing their opinions
on the sign boards they prepared and held on hand. These are the examples of depriving human
rights stated in some articles of the Constitution by citing other articles of
the Constitution.
4.
UN holds that equality is the
foundation of human rights, yet Chinese Constitution denies the fundamental
principle that all are equal before the law by cunningly changing the wording.
Article 33 writes “All
citizens of the People's Republic of China are equal before the law”, but if we
analyse article 41 “Citizens of the
People's Republic of China have the right to criticize and make suggestions to
any state organ or functionary”; “Citizens have the right to make to
relevant state organs complaints and charges against, or exposures of,
violation of the law or dereliction of duty by any state organ or functionary”;
and “Citizens who have suffered losses through infringement of their civil
rights by any state organ or functionary have the right to compensation in
accordance with the law.”, we may find out that citizens are in obvious
inferior status as compared with the state organ or functionary as citizens are
not entitled to sue the state organ or functionary to the court of law.
Citizens who suffer losses through infringement of their rights by state organ or
functionary are only allowed to request for compensation but not to sue them to
the court of law. This reminds us of the
urban management staff. The functionary
from this state organ can beat Mr. Ji Zhongxing, a motor cycle taxi driver, to
so serious disabilities that he can’t live without personal care on daily
life. Yet he is impossible to win
anything if he wanted to sue or even simply complain against the state organ or
functionary. This is the wide-spreading
scenario that hundreds of thousands of persecuted petitioners are experiencing
in their daily lives!
5.
What makes the conditions worse
is that even though the Constitution admit the rights and freedom of citizens,
the government can still use the unconstitutional “administrative rules” to
openly violate human rights, with all conveniences. For example,
1)
Article 37 of the Constitution
writes, “The freedom of person of
citizens of the People's Republic of China is inviolable. No citizen may
be arrested except with the approval or by decision of a people's procuratorate
or by decision of a people's court, and arrests must be made by a public
security organ. Unlawful deprivation or restriction of citizens' freedom of person
by detention or other means is prohibited; and unlawful search of the person of
citizens is prohibited.” However, the
Re-education-through-Labor (RTL) prevailing in the country detains citizens for
as long as three years without any trials.
The so-called psychiatric hospital controlled by the public security
bureau (e.g. Ankang Hospital) and the black jails in the names of “hotels” or “senior
citizen care centers” detain citizens without even involving procuratorate or
court of law.
2)
Article 38 of the Constitution
writes “The personal dignity of citizens of the People's Republic of China is
inviolable. Insult, libel, false charge or frame-up directed against citizens
by any means is prohibited.” But in
prinsons, RTL camps and even in schools and other public or private places, how
many cases happen that citizens’ dignity is violated only because the violators
are backed by power? Are these rare?!
Just a simple example can show this: State Bureau for Letters and Calls
conduct hand search on both male and female petitioners at the entrance
(including lower part of the body).
Should such insulting act be the administrative regulation of the state
organ!
3)
Article 13 of the Constitution
writes, “The state protects the right
of citizens to own lawfully earned income, savings, houses and other lawful
property”; article 39 writes, “The
home of citizens of the People's Republic of China is inviolable.
Unlawful search of, or intrusion into, a citizen's home is prohibited”. However, the prevailing governmental
demolishing campaign has caused wide-spreading forced evictions of civilian
residence. The citizens are not secured
in their own homes; more seriously, casualties are often reported for the forced
evictions. The reason why this happens
is that behind this right, the Constitution has another clause which says, “The
state may in the public interest take over land for its use in accordance with
the law, and compensate the land users.”
This article has shown that rights of the citizens have to go after the
state-claimed “public interest”. What is
public interest? It is not mentioned
anywhere in the Constitution or other laws.
Considering the above-mentioned scenario, we call on Chinese
citizens to join the constitutional amendment campaign so as to ensure that the
new Constitution protect human rights and make us part of UN people in real
term, and we enjoy true human rights and freedom. We appeal for the following in specific:
1.
Ensure that “all are equal
before the law”. The state organ and functionary
should be equal to citizens.
2.
Remove the “Four cardinal
principles” from the Constitution, because they sharply restrict, prohibit and
violate the fundamental human rights, and are the direct causing factor of the
denial of citizens’ rights of the freedom to thoughts, conscience, and religion
as well as other fundamental rights.
3.
Cover in the Constitution the
fundamental rights and freedom that are affirmed by international human rights
law and to be ratified by the government.
4.
To restrict the government from
arbitrary violations on human rights, an independent legitimate institution has
to make laws on the government’s work and proceedings on behalf of all
citizens. An impartial judiciary
institution has to be established to oversee the implementation of the relevant
laws.
5.
The powers not delegated to the
government by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the government, are
reserved to the people.
6.
The government or legislative
institution shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or
of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition
the Government for a redress of grievances.
7.
The enumeration in the
Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage
others retained by the people.
Given that the
current constitution, law and governmental rules virtually do not provide human
rights protections and human rights violations happen so frequently in China,
all left without fair settlements, we the group call for closed signatories of
this declaration among Chinese citizens inside or outside China in order to
ensure their life safety and security.
Please email to: xiuxianxiaozu@gmail.com
for signatures. You may choose any
subject with “real name + ID No.” as the content in the email. On receiving your email, we the group will
provide you with a random signatory’s ID generated by the computer. When there are 100,000 signatories, we the
group are to disclose the list of signatories listing the names and signatory’s
ID in alphabetic order. When we have
200,000 signatories, we the group are to submit the declaration to the Standing
Committee of the National People’s Congress; and meantime, we are to submit a
copy with the name list of signatories to the UN Committee against torture as
well as another one set to the UN Refugee Agency to seek concern and protection
from both institutions.
For the sake of
your freedom and your rights protection, we the launching group of the
Constitutional Amendment Campaign by Chinese Citizens sincerely invite you to
join us as signatories. As we are not to
immediately disclose the signatories’ information, your life safety will be
ensured to certain degree. We anticipate
your response and thank you for your participation.
Proposed and
written by,
The launching group
of the Constitutional Amendment Campaign by Chinese Citizens
On Oct 10, 2013
Email for
signatories: xiuxianxiaozu@gmail.com