Wayzata World Factbook 1996/The World Factbook - 1996 Edition - Wayzata Technology (3079) (1996).iso/mac/TEXT/HUMANrts/CHINA.TXW

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TITLE:  CHINA HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE:  FEBRUARY 1995




Occupational health and safety are constant themes of posters
and campaigns.  Every work unit must designate a health and
safety officer, and the International Labor Organization has
established a training program for these officials.  The U.S.
Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration is
participating actively in this program.  Moreover, while the
right to strike is not provided for in the 1982 Constitution,
the Trade Union Law explicitly recognizes the right of unions
to "suggest that staff and workers withdraw from sites of
danger" and to participate in accident investigations.  Labor
officials reported that such withdrawals did occur in some
instances during 1994.  Nonetheless, pressures for increased
output, lack of financial resources to maintain equipment, lack
of concern by management, and a traditionally poor
understanding of safety issues by workers have contributed to a
continuing high rate of accidents.  Statistics provided by the
ACFTU indicate that 11,600 workers were killed in industrial
accidents from January to August of 1993, up 13 percent over
the same period of 1992.  One credible report indicates there
are over 10,000 miners killed in accidents yearly.  Fatal
factory explosions, fires, and collapsing dormitories have been
covered by both the domestic and foreign press.  Officials
blame 60 percent of accidents on violation of safety
regulations, particularly in the rapidly expanding rural,
private, and foreign-invested enterprise sectors.  In
Guangdong, where 1,300 fires killed 329 people and injured 889
in 1993, the authorities announced in February new fines for
enterprises that neglect safety precautions.  Negligent units
will be fined 1 to 5 percent of the total losses they incur in
any fire, $3,450 (RMB 30,000) for every worker killed, and $345
to $575 (RMB 3,000 to 5,000) for each worker injured.  Many
factories using harmful products, such as asbestos, fail not
only to protect their workers against the ill effects of such
products, but also fail to inform them about the potential
hazards.

                        ----------------

TIBET

(This section of the report on China has been prepared pursuant
to Section 536 (b) of Public Law 103-236.  The United States
recognizes the Tibet Autonomous Region (hereinafter referred to
as "Tibet") to be part of the People's Republic of China.
Preservation and development of Tibet's unique religious,
cultural, and linguistic heritage and protection of its
people's fundamental human rights continue to be of concern.)

     Respect for the Integrity of the Person

Because the Chinese Government strictly controls access to and
information about Tibet, it is difficult to state precisely the
scope of human rights abuse there.  It is known, however, that
during 1994 Chinese government authorities continued to commit
widespread human rights abuses in Tibet, including instances of
torture, arbitrary arrest, and detention without public trial,
long detention of Tibetan nationalists for peacefully
expressing their political views, and rigid controls on freedom
of speech and the press, particularly for Tibetans.  There are
credible reports that authorities in some instances tortured
and killed detainees in Tibet.  Reports from international
human rights organizations indicate that a Tibetan nun died on
June 4 in a prison hospital, reportedly as a result of a
beating by guards.  In May Tibetan officials reported that a
former public security official in Tibet was sentenced to 9
years in prison for causing the death of a suspect while
torturing him to obtain a confession.  The United Nations
Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions has concluded that China
is arbitrarily detaining 32 Tibetans and has called for their
release.

The authorities permit most traditional religious practices
except those seen as a vehicle for political dissent, which
they ruthlessly suppress.  They continue to detain and
prosecute monks and nuns who have expressed dissenting
political views in public.  Legal safeguards for Tibetans
detained or imprisoned are inadequate in design and
implementation, and lack of independent outside access to
prisoners or prisons makes it difficult to assess the extent
and severity of abuses and the number of Tibetan prisoners.

According to human rights organizations, small-scale protests
were reported to have occurred in Lhasa, the capital, and
elsewhere during 1994, resulting in swift detention for
participants.  According to credible reports, in January, 11
nuns were sentenced to terms of 2 to 7 years' imprisonment for
taking part in a proindependence demonstration in 1993.
Another group of 14 nuns reportedly had their prison sentences
increased by up to 9 years for singing proindependence songs.
In May a demonstration by Tibetan shopkeepers protesting tax
increases took on political overtones, and several dozen
Tibetan monks and nuns were detained, apparently for raising
independence slogans.  Police responded without using excessive
force, reflecting better riot control training; no lives were
lost.  Tibetan political prisoners such as Ngawang Pulchung and
Jempel Tsering remained imprisoned in 1994, although Yulo Dawa
Tsering and three other Tibetans were released in November.

     Freedom of Religion

In Tibet, where Buddhism and Tibetan nationalism are closely
intertwined, relations between Buddhists and secular
authorities continued to be tense in 1994.  The Government does
not tolerate religious manifestations that advocate Tibetan
independence, and it has prohibited a large traditional
festival which has in the past been used to encourage
separatist sentiment.  The Government condemns the Dalai Lama's
political activities and his leadership of a "government in
exile," but it recognizes him as a major religious figure.
Government religious authorities in 1994 forbade party and
government officials from displaying the Dalai Lama's
photograph, including in their homes, and removed his
photographs from sale at bazaar shops.  His photos remain in
prominent positions in most temples in Tibet.  The autonomous
region government in Tibet also ordered Tibetan officials who
have children studying in India to bring them back to Tibet
immediately.

In 1994 the Chinese Government continued to take steps to
ameliorate damage caused in the 1960's and 1970's to Tibet's
historic religious buildings and other aspects of its cultural
and religious heritage.  The Government has expended
substantial sums to reconstruct the most important sacred sites
of Tibetan Buddhism.  A 5-year project to restore the Potala
Palace (the most important Tibetan Buddhist center) in Lhasa
was concluded in August 1994 at a cost of $6.4 million.  The
Government also provided funding in 1994 for the restoration of
two other major religious sites in Lhasa, the Jokhang and
Ganden monasteries.  Ganden had been completely destroyed
during the Cultural Revolution.  Public contributions also
helped to rebuild these and many smaller monasteries.  Although
the Government denied it, the practice of religion in Tibet
continued to be hampered by the limits the Government imposes
on the number of resident monks in several of Tibet's main
temples.  There are 34,000 Buddhist monks and nuns in Tibet,
according to official figures, a small number compared to
traditional norms.  Tibetan Buddhists claim that they are
restricted in the numbers and training of religious
practitioners, even though limits on resident monks are not
strictly observed in practice.  Monks at some Tibetan
monasteries known for their opposition to Han Chinese
domination may still face travel restrictions.

     Economic Development and Protection of Cultural Heritage

Like China's 54 other minority ethnic groups, Tibetans receive
preferential treatment in marriage policy, family planning,
university admission, and employment.  Chinese government
development policies have helped raise the living standards of
Tibetans, but also have disrupted traditional living patterns.
The Government has sought to preserve the Tibetan language, but
in doing so has encountered the dilemma of how to preserve the
language without limiting educational opportunities.  In Tibet
primary schools at the village level teach in Tibetan.  Many
pupils end their formal education after graduating from these
schools, which usually only have two or three grades.  Those
who go on to regional primary schools and beyond, particularly
after junior high school, receive much of their education in
Chinese, although some areas provide instruction in Tibetan
through junior high school.  Efforts to expand Tibetan language
instruction are hampered by lack of materials and competent
teachers at higher levels.

In July 1994, the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council
conducted a large-scale work conference on Tibet.  The third of
its kind since 1980, this work conference was attended by
delegations from the CCP and central government organizations,
as well as provincial representatives and delegates from
certain urban areas.  The conference focused on setting
economic development goals, pledging to increase economic
activity in Tibet by 10 percent a year.  The plan included a
total of $270 million in investment projects, continuing the
government policy of providing substantial budget subsidies to
develop Tibet's backward economy.  China's leaders also made
clear that Tibet would continue to receive central government
financial assistance and would retain "special flexibility" in
implementing reform policies mandated elsewhere in China.  In a
speech covered extensively in the Chinese press, President
Jiang Zemin reiterated Beijing's willingness to "welcome back"
the Dalai Lama to Tibet, so long as "he abandons advocacy of
Tibetan independence and ceases activities to split the
motherland."  Although the work conference approved plans to
boost economic development in Tibet, it produced no change in
the Chinese Government's policy toward Tibet.

The Dalai Lama continued in 1994 to express concern that
development projects and other central government policies
encourage a massive influx of Han Chinese into Tibet, which has
the effect of overwhelming Tibet's traditional culture and
diluting Tibetan demographic dominance in Tibet.  Freer
movement of people throughout China in recent years, and the
prospect of economic opportunity in Tibet, has led to a
substantial increase in the non-Tibetan population (including
China's Muslim Hui minority as well as Han Chinese) in Lhasa
and other urban areas.  Most of these migrants profess to be
temporary residents, but small businesses run by ethnic Han and
Hui peoples (mostly restaurants and retail shops) are becoming
more numerous in or near some Tibetan towns and cities.
Roughly one-third of the population of Lhasa is Han Chinese.
Chinese officials assert that 95 percent of Tibet's officially
registered population is Tibetan, with Han and other ethnic
groups making up the remainder.  Increased economic development
will likely mean the transfer to, or temporary duty in, Tibet
of a greater number of non-Tibetan technical personnel, and may
also increase the number of immigrants from China's large
floating population seeking to take advantage of new economic
opportunities.

Economic development, fueled by central government subsidies,
is changing traditional Tibetan ways of life.  While the
Chinese Government has made efforts in recent years to restore
the physical structures and other aspects of Tibetan Buddhism
and Tibetan culture damaged or destroyed during the Cultural
Revolution, repressive social and political controls continue
to limit the individual freedoms of Tibetans.