Seventeenth Session of Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review Working Group, Geneva, 21 October to 1 November 2013
Statement by UK Mission Geneva on China's Universal Periodic Review, 22 October 2013.
The Universal Periodic Review is taking place at the Palais des Nations, Geneva
Thank you Mr President
The UK welcomes progress on economic and social rights since China’s last Universal Periodic Review and notes the major revision of the Criminal Procedure Law, which included positive measures on defence rights and torture prevention.
We are concerned about restrictions on freedom of expression and association including recent clampdowns on civil society and the use of social media, and about legal protections for human rights defenders. We also remain concerned about the human rights situation in ethnic minority areas including Xinjiang and Tibet, in particular with respect to the protection of cultural rights and religious freedoms.
We recommend:
1) That the government abolish all forms of arbitrary and extra-judicial detention.
2) That the government set out a clear legislative timetable for ratification of the ICCPR.
While we welcome the abolition of the death penalty for 13 offences in 2011, we urge greater transparency over its use and further reductions to the number of capital crimes.
Thank you Mr President.