Be Informed: Know about the issues 2006 marks the seventeenth anniversary of the June 4th Tiananmen Square crackdown. In the spring of 1989, the Chinese government ordered the suppression of a peaceful protest movement that had been carried out by students, workers, and civilians in China's major cities over a period of two months. The center of the protest movement was Tiananmen Square in Beijing, where tens of thousands of students camped out to press their demands for democratic reform and a halt to China's escalating corruption problem, and where more than one million people marched carrying banners and shouting slogans. On the night of June 3, 1989, the government ordered the People's Liberation Army to clear the square. On the afternoon of June 3rd, martial law troops moved into Beijing and clashed with civilians trying to block their way to Tiananmen Square. In the early hours of June 4th, the troops cleared the square and opened fire on unarmed students and civilians in the surrounding area who resisted the suppression. Unknown numbers According to an internal Chinese document, more than 2,000 people died in various Chinese cities on June 3rd and 4th and the days immediately following. The Tiananmen Mothers, a rights defenders group comprised of those wounded during the crackdown and the families of those who were killed or disappeared, has been active for the past 17 years, and has documented the names of 186 dead and over 70 injured. In addition, in the follow-up to June 4th, more than 500 people were imprisoned in Beijing's No. 2 prison alone, and an unknown number were imprisoned in other Chinese cities. An additional unknown number were executed. However, the total number of dead, wounded, imprisoned and executed remains unknown, because the Chinese government has consistently refused to carry out a thorough investigation or accounting of the events of June 1989. Demanding accountability The Tiananmen Mothers, along with Human Rights in China and many other groups and individuals, have over the past 17 years repeatedly called for an independent investigation into the June 4th incident, a thorough official accounting of the dead, injured and disappeared, appropriate redress to surviving victims and families of the dead, and accountability on the part of the officials who ordered the crackdown. What YOU can do! Support the Tiananmen Mothers, and sign the Fill the Square petition. Learn more about the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown at 64 Memo, an extensive online multimedia archive (Chinese language only). Donate to HRIC. Your generosity is greatly appreciated. Stay informed with HRIC's regular news updates: HRIC Press Releases and Statements To subscribe to HRIC's press list, send an email to communications@hrichina.org with "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject line. HRIC Daily News Brief HRIC's "Daily News Brief" blog is a daily compilation of selected human rights-related news covered in local and regional Chinese and English press compiled by HRIC. The blog does not purport to be comprehensive, but aims to highlight the latest developments on important human rights issues. HRIC Monthly Brief The information contained in the Monthly Brief is based on information collected by HRIC. It provides a summary of arrests, detentions, trials, sentences and releases for the month and should be viewed as a representation of larger trends of dissent and repression in China. HRIC Article Alerts HRIC's "Article Alerts" blog is a monthly compilation of selected human rights-related articles covered in local and regional Chinese and English news magazines and academic journals compiled by HRIC. Only article titles (translated into English by HRIC staff) are available for viewing. Use HRIC resources to learn about human rights issues in China: The human rights situation in China is generally deteriorating and remains serious for human rights defenders, including journalists, workers, lawyers, petitioners, religious practitioners and health activists, and others who raise issues that the PRC government considers sensitive. Below are select HRIC resources on current issues: On Internet Censorship and Media Control The Chinese government continues to maintain tight restrictions on freedom of speech and press, as evidenced by the surge in detentions in late 2004. A recent campaign to target "public intellectuals" resulted in the censorship of individuals, publications and broadcasts, as well as Internet and other wireless technology. - Trends Bulletins: Media censorship intensifies with new round of crackdowns - Google.cn: Not too late for corporate leadership - From the Chinese Blogosphere: Anti's open statement - US Congressional Action: Congressional hearing testimoney and comments on HR 4780 - HRIC Reports and Articles: – Rise of the Internet and Advancing Human Rights – Human Rights and SPAM: A China Case Study – Logging on in China's Internet Cafes – Media Control in China On Human Rights Defenders and Social Unrest Prisons, reeducation-through-labor camps, and detention centers in China hold thousands of political prisoners, although the exact number is not known. These numbers are estimates, due to category overlap, censorship and information control, and the lack of transparency in China. Serious legal defects and procedural concerns have also been identified by international monitors. There appears to be a trend of growing number of reported protests, the scope of issues, and the range of groups and individuals involved; according to Ministry of Public Security, there were 87,000 cases of disturbances of public order recorded in 2005, an increase of 6.6 percent, or about 81,600 cases, over 2004. - Trends Bulletin: China responds to increasing social unrest with greater repression - A Chronology of Unrest: March 2003 – December 2004 - Categorized Prisoner Profiles and In Custody lists - Case Highlight: Shi Tao and Yahoo On Legal Reform Although overall the number of lawyers in China is increasing, the number of lawyers willing to take up politically sensitive cases is decreasing due to the political and other pressures they face. According to the 2004 U.S. State Department Human Rights Report on China, the percentage of lawyers in the criminal bar declined from three percent in 1997 to 1 percent in 2001. Where defendants have been charged with state secrets or are involved in other politically sensitive cases—in particular cases involving human rights—not only are they at risk in a system that does not adequately protect their rights to due process, but their lawyers are also under pressure. The implications of this pressure on the criminal defense and the rights to a full and fair trial are particularly severe when viewed in light of the extremely high conviction rate in China, and the extent to which the death penalty is imposed. - Reform of the Reeducation-through-Labor (RTL) System - Review of Procedural Law Raises Hopes for Justice - Empty Promises: Human Rights Protections and China's Criminal Procedure Law in Practice - Whose Security? State security in China's new criminal code - Impunity for Torturers Remain Despite Changes in the Law - Not Welcome at the Party: Behind the clean-up of China's cities On Ethnic Minorities and Religion Although freedom of religion is protected by the PRC Constitution, there are, in reality, serious constraints on this right for many religious groups. - Criminalizing Ethnicity: Political repression in Xinjiang - Devastating Blows: Religious repression of Uighurs in Xinjiang On Beijing 2008: Summer Olympics - Promises, Promises: China's commitments and implementation concerns - Incorporating Responsibility: 2008 - Venue construction - Sponsors On Business, Trade and Human Rights - Trade, Investment and Human Rights: China's window of opportunity - China's Strategic Global Influence: text & map - Submission to the UN Special Representative on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations - Looking Back at Cancun and Forward to Hong Kong - China and the WTO: Year one - WTO Backgrounder - Norms/Codes of Conduct On Children's, Women's, and Migrant's Rights - HRIC's report on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC): Executive Summary - Suicide as Protest - Where have all the young girls gone? - Shutting Out the Poorest: Discrimination Against the Most Disadvantaged Migrant Children in China's City Schools - Institutionalized Exclusion: The tenuous legal status of internal migrants in China's major cities - HRIC's 1998 report on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women On Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights - Advocacy Update: China reviewed over Economic, Social and Cultural Rights - HRIC's report on the implementation of the Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR): Executive Summary - The Right to Food: What (and Who?) is at stake   Except where otherwise noted, all audio on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License. hrichina@hrichina.org http://www.hrichina.org [Acknowledgments & Credits]