China became a signatory member to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on 5th October 1998. However, China has never ratified the Covenant.

 

“In reality, China systematically violates all these freedoms through policies of censorship, surveillance and punishment. Every publication and all news goes through a sophisticated screening process and requires the consent of the Communist Party. The general public has little knowledge about the outside world since the information inflow and outflow are strictly screened and monitored by the authorities. Most of the journals and media are state-owned and feed people with news laden with official party ideology and propaganda.” Excerpt from the 62nd Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights (2006)

According to Reporters Without Borders, China ranked 163rd out of 168 in the 2006 worldwide press freedom index. China controls the flow of information from the public media (newspapers, radio, TCV, internet, printed material), as well as monitoring private e-mails and phone exchanges.

The government blocks access to radio stations with Tibetan language news services operating outside Tibet and China such as Radio Free Asia, Voice of America and Voice of Tibet.

Books by the Dalai Lama, or books deemed to be politically challenging to China are also banned. In universities, professors cannot lecture on politically sensitive topics, and many reportedly are required to attend political education sessions.

In 2005 China introduced new restrictions on internet content, relating to “politics, economics, military affairs, foreign affairs and social and pubic affairs”. China’s new internet regulations launched in September 2005 put even further restrictions on information by preventing the distribution of any uncensored news in both websites and e-mail. China currently employs 30,000 internet police to monitor and crack down on any dissent in people’s e-mails or on websites.

As in Tibet, websites such as the BBC, Free Tibet Campaign, Phayul.com are banned throughout China, as are thousands of sites relating to issues such as democracy, Taiwan, Dalai Lama or human rights. Those reporting or writing on sensitive issues or challenging the state are at enormous risk of dismissal from work, arbitrary detention or imprisonment.

Many Tibet-based websites are regularly closed down – either permanently or temporarily – for material deemed political or critical of the government appearing on their forums.

In October 2006, leading Tibetan writer Woeser’s on-line blogs were also closed by the Chinese authorities after she posted a birthday greeting to the Dalai Lama. Her book “Notes on Tibet” was banned in 2004. Shortly after the ban, Woeser, who writes in Chinese, was fired from her job, evicted from her home and lost her social welfare entitlement. She was also forced to write articles recognising her “political errors”.

Western companies such as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft all censor their websites operating in China. Therefore, pages that you can find on Google in the west do not appear in on www.google.cn. The companies argue that they have to comply with Chinese law to operate.

Read more about Free Tibet Campaign action on Google.