BEIJING - Amnesty International is out with its human rights report, and as expected, China gets admonished for what Amnesty considers a poor record on human rights.

I’ve listed the top 14 violations below, but a couple stood out:

11) Hong Kong Special Administrative Region: "Tens of thousands of people demonstrated for political and human rights reforms on the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to Chinese sovereignty in July. Hundreds of overseas Falun Gong practitioners were denied entry to Hong Kong in the run-up to the anniversary."

This actually isn’t the only time Hong Kong has denied potential trouble-makers at the border.  Complaints were raised during the WTO conference back in 2005 as well, when some protesters were turned away at the airport.

Nor is this an issue that is common just to Hong Kong, or China:  there were the famous Seattle clashes at the WTO in 1999;  many people planning to demonstrate from nearby Vancouver were stopped at the US border and denied entry.

I disagree with the assertion that denying somebody the right to enter a particular territory is necessarily a human rights violation.  Hong Kong, like the United States or mainland China, has the full right to deny persons they deem could be harmful and/or dangerous.  The question is where to draw the line:  how do we know if people are being denied for spurious reasons, or for legitimate concerns?  There’s no way to answer this, but in Hong Kong’s case, I think it should be given the benefit of the doubt: it has a relatively free press and a decent record on human rights already (witness the massive FLG banners routinely on display at Tsim Sha Tsui train station, greeting mainland tourists).

This one also struck me:

(13) Discrimination against lesbians and gay men: "Lesbian and gay activists criticized a January ruling by the Broadcasting Authority that a television programme portraying same-sex relationships was biased and unsuitable for family viewing."

I’m not familiar with this particular case, but I know that the gay and lesbian community has felt under fire from the Chinese authorities a few times in recent years.  While the GLBT community hasn’t reached the same kind of “liberation” that it has in developed western countries (where many would argue there is still a long way to go), there’s no doubt that it’s not exactly underground in China, either.  For more on Shanghai’s gay scene alone, you can see a previous story on Zhongnanhai.

There is lots to chew on in the human rights report, including Amnesty’s criticism of the United States over Guantanamo Bay.  Talk to any American overseas and they’ll likely agree:  it’s hard for the US to criticize anyone on human rights when its moral authority on the issue has been eroded by continued operation of Guantanmo.

The rest of China’s violations are listed below, and the full report can be found here (proxy link).

Amnesty's report criticized China on 14 counts:

(1) Death Penalty: "Based on public reports, Amnesty International estimated that at least 470 people were executed and 1,860 people sentenced to death during 2007, although the true figures were believed to be much higher."

(2) Justice System: "People who peacefully exercised their rights such as freedom of expression and association remained at high risk of enforced disappearance, illegal and incommunicado detention or house arrest, surveillance, beatings and harassment."

(3) Torture and other ill-treatment: Amnesty reports that torture in detention remains widespread

(4) Human rights defenders: "The authorities criminalized the activities of human rights activists by charging them with offences such as damaging public property, extortion and fraud."

(5) Freedom of expression: "The Chinese authorities maintained efforts to tightly control the flow of information. They decided what topics and news stories could be published, and media outlets were sometimes required to respond within minutes to government directives. The authorities continued to block websites and to filter internet content based on specified words and topics."

(6) Violence and discrimination against women: "Women suffered discrimination in employment, education and access to health care. The trafficking of women and girls remained widespread, particularly from North Korea. Domestic violence continued to be prevalent and was said to be a primary cause of suicide among women in rural areas."

(7) Repression of spiritual and religious groups: "Millions of people were impeded from freely practising their religion. Thousands remained in detention or serving prison sentences, at high risk of torture, for practising their religion outside of state-sanctioned channels."

(8) Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region: "The authorities continued to use the US-led 'war on terror' to justify harsh repression of ethnic Uighurs, living primarily in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR), resulting in serious human rights violations."

(9) Tibet Autonomous Region and other ethnic Tibetan areas: "Freedom of religion, expression and association of Tibetans continued to be severely restricted. Peaceful expressions of support for the Dalai Lama continued to be harshly punished. Efforts to pass information abroad about crackdowns against Tibetans were harshly punished."

(10) North Korean refugees: "Approximately 50,000 North Koreans were reportedly hiding in China, living under constant fear of deportation. Each month hundreds of North Koreans were believed to have been forcibly repatriated to North Korea without being given access to UNHCR offices in China. A majority of the North Koreans in China were women, many of whom had been trafficked into China and whose primary means of avoiding forcible return to North Korea was being sold into marriage to Chinese men. Children born to North Korean refugee women in China are effectively stateless and face difficulties gaining access to education and health care."

(11) Hong Kong Special Administrative Region: "Tens of thousands of people demonstrated for political and human rights reforms on the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to Chinese sovereignty in July. Hundreds of overseas Falun Gong practitioners were denied entry to Hong Kong in the run-up to the anniversary."

(12) Violence against women: "Cases of domestic violence increased 120 per cent in the first three months of the year – a rise attributed to a greater willingness to report such abuses to the police."

(13) Discrimination against lesbians and gay men: "Lesbian and gay activists criticized a January ruling by the Broadcasting Authority that a television programme portraying same-sex relationships was biased and unsuitable for family viewing."

(14) Asylum-seekers: "Asylum-seekers charged with immigration offences continued to be detained pending the outcome of their asylum case."