Statement of New York City Bar Association on the U.N. Universal Periodic Review of China

On the occasion of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s third Universal Periodic Review of the People’s Republic of China, the New York City Bar Association underscores the grave and continuing deficiencies in the country’s human rights record, particularly what has been termed the Chinese government’s “war on law,” which methodically targets human rights lawyers and other advocates.

This week, the U.N. Human Rights Council is reviewing China as part of the U.N.’s Universal Periodic Review, a “State-driven process“ that is designed to “review the human rights records of all U.N. Member States.”[1] According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Universal Periodic Review process provides “the opportunity for each State to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfill their human rights obligations.”[2] “The ultimate aim of [the] mechanism,” according to the Council, “is to improve the human rights situation in all countries and [to] address human rights violations wherever they occur.”[3]

China was last subject to the Universal Periodic Review in 2013.[4] This current review is therefore China’s first review since that country’s July 2015 launch of the infamous “709 Crackdown” – the State-sponsored campaign of repression of Chinese human rights lawyers and other advocates for clients and causes the Chinese government finds objectionable or threatening.[5]

The New York City Bar Association understands that a major focus of this Universal Periodic Review will be the rapidly-escalating crisis surrounding China’s persecution of ethnic minorities (Uighurs and Tibetans, in particular).[6] We urge the U.N. Human Rights Council to recognize and consider, in addition, the unique role that lawyers and human rights defenders play vis-à-vis the protection of human rights in all civilized societies; to denounce in the strongest possible terms China’s continuing harassment, surveillance, arrest, prosecution,  imprisonment, and torture, of hundreds of Chinese lawyers and rights defenders, as well as their families, friends, staff, and associates; and, lastly, to press China to take immediate, concrete actions to redress its violations of the rights of lawyers and rights defenders and to honor the letter and the spirit of its international human rights obligations.

As the Association has previously explained,[7] China’s crackdown on human rights lawyers and other rights defenders undermines China’s legal reform efforts and its commitment to the rule of law, and impedes its development of a professional and independent bar.

Chinese law, in the xianfa or Constitution and in other legislation, guarantees numerous fundamental human rights, including the rights of freedom of expression and association, due process, and the right to be represented by legal counsel. Further, Article 37 of the Lawyers Law of the People’s Republic of China specifically provides that “a lawyer’s right of the person is inviolable,” and affirms that a lawyer is not legally liable for the positions that he or she presents on a client’s behalf.[8]

China’s crackdown on human rights lawyers and other defenders also derogates from numerous international conventions, customary international law, and well-established U.N. declarations. For example, Article 16 of the U.N. Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers provides that “[g]overnments shall ensure that lawyers . . . are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference.”[9] Similarly, Article 9.3(c) of the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights Defenders reflects the fundamental right of individuals “[t]o offer and provide professionally qualified legal assistance or other relevant advice and assistance in defending human rights and fundamental freedoms,” without government interference.[10]

The United Nations, and the international community as a whole, cannot continue to turn a blind eye to China’s violations of fundamental, universally-accepted principles of international human rights. China cannot be permitted to continue to flout international norms and standards with impunity. The world is watching this Universal Periodic Review. The government of the People’s Republic of China must be held accountable.

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About the Association
The mission of the New York City Bar Association, which was founded in 1870 and has 24,000 members, is to equip and mobilize the legal profession to practice with excellence, promote reform of the law, and uphold the rule of law and access to justice in support of a fair society and the public interest in our community, our nation, and throughout the world. www.nycbar.org