CAT status Status under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment State Party since 4 October, 1988

Reviewed 2016 Read review

China

Name: The World Organisation Against Torture
Price range: $

At a glance

The human rights and the protection of all groups of people in the country are a systemic issue. Although China is a State party to the Convention against Torture since 1988, there are reports indicating that the practice of torture and ill-treatment is still deeply entrenched in the criminal justice system, which overly relies on confessions as the basis for convictions. The authorities crack down on dissent and independent voices, targeting particularly human rights defenders and journalists. They are systematically exposed to surveillance, harassment, enforced disappearance, and ill-treatment and torture while in detention, preventing them from doing their job and relaying precious information on government activities. Minority groups are also subjected to harsh repression. Reports about the detention of Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups continue. According to credible sources, about 1 million Turkic Muslims are being indefinitely held in « political education camps » where they are forced to disavow their identity and culture. Others are subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in detention and sometimes to death sentences. There are also allegations of a forced organ harvesting business on the Uyghur minority. The OMCT is particularly concerned about minority groups in China. It fights against impunity and for the release of human rights defenders and all those wrongfully detained.