Last year Chinese authorities executed at least 470 people, thousands more were sent to re-education through labour camps, while scores of others were held in jails or detention for practicising non-approved religions.

That’s just a few of the findings in Amnesty International’s Report 2008 ‘The State of the World’s Human Rights, which was released today.

China’s statistics

  • An estimated 500,000 people were subjected to punitive detention without charge or trial through “re-education through labour” and other forms of administrative detention.

  • In April, the Ministry of Public Security reportedly ordered the screening of all those attending the Beijing Olympics, with 43 categories of people to be barred, including some based on political or religious beliefs.

  • We estimate 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.

  • For an estimated 11 to 13 million people, the only realistic channel for justice was outside the courts in petitioning to local and higher level authorities, where the vast majority of cases remained unresolved.

  • Reportedly more than 20,000 young Uighur women and girls were sent to work in factories in eastern China, often coerced by local authorities and under harsh conditions with low pay.

  • Thousands of people remained in detention or jail, at high risk of torture, for practicing a religion outside state-sanctioned channels. Falun Gong practitioners, Uighur Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists and underground Christian groups were among those most harshly persecuted.

Lawyers under attack

Authorities continued to criminalise the activities of human rights activists by charging them with offences such as damaging public property, extortion and fraud. Lawyers were particularly targeted, and an increasing number had their licence renewal application rejected.

Preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing were marked by repression of human rights activists. Censorship of the internet and other media intensified.

The Chinese authorities 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.

Shrouded in secrecy

Despite the reinstatement of Supreme People’s Court review of death penalty cases, the death penalty remained shrouded in secrecy and continued to be used extensively.

Death penalty trials continued to be held behind closed doors, police often resorted to torture to obtain “confessions”, and detainees were denied prompt and regular access to lawyers

Torture of detainees and prisoners remained prevalent. And religious adherents of all beliefs had difficulty getting legal counsel, as lawyers willing to take up such sensitive cases were often harassed, detained and imprisoned

Cultural repression

The repression of minority groups, including Tibetans, Uighurs and Mongolians, continued. Non-violent expressions of Uighur cultural identity were criminalised - Uighurs were the only known group in China to be sentenced to death and executed for political crimes.

The State Administration for Religious Affairs established government control over the identification and training of Tibetan Buddhist teachers throughout China. Peaceful expressions of support for the Dalai Lama continued to be harshly punished.

Sold into marriage

Women and girls continued to suffer violence and discrimination. Domestic violence was said to be a primary cause of suicide among women in rural areas.

Each month hundreds of North Koreans were believed to have been forcibly repatriated to North Korea without being given access to UNHCR.

A majority of the North Koreans in China were women, many of whom had been trafficked into China and whose main 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.