On Friday, June 26th, fifty independent United Nations human rights experts published a statement expressing “alarm regarding the repression of fundamental freedoms in China.” The statement

calls for the implementation of immediate and decisive measures to protect against human rights abuses in the country. Among other things, the statement notes a range of concerns and urges

China to permit independent experts access to the country to conduct independent human rights monitoring missions and calls on the UN Human Rights Council to consider mechanisms to monitor

Chinese human rights behavior. The Government of China was quick to respond. As a drafter and signer of the statement, I wanted to provide some brief background and a quick reaction to the

Periodic Review. Three times a year, the Council meets to consider contemporary human rights issues, adopting resolutions related to countries and topics of concern. It reviews reports of

the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who acts in part like the UN’s lead executive and who advocates for human rights issues. It’s a complicated body with its share of politicization,

as with all international organizations, and it’s also an easy body to criticize. One of the responsibilities of the Council is the appointment of independent experts to evaluate issues of

human rights concern. There are now over fifty such appointees who function either as “special rapporteurs” or “independent experts” who review specific topics and problematic countries or

as  members of working groups on such issues as arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and discrimination against women and girls and persons of African descent, to name a few. These

experts gather information, monitor and report on allegations of human rights abuses. Often these experts carry out country visits, and about 120 governments have issued “standing

invitations” to us to visit (not that those visits always take place; there’s often an excuse…). These are _mandates_ – the Council appoints the experts and the experts are expected to carry

them out. STATEMENTS AND ACTIONS ON CHINA For the last several years, the UN Human Rights Council has observed increasing repression of human rights in China. It is, of course, a

complicated and remarkable country, with a history and culture as rich as any on earth and a massive potential to influence the development of international law and institutions. On the one

hand, the decades-long move out of extreme poverty through development has responded to the rights of people in China to enjoy economic rights that are enshrined in the Universal Declaration

of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Indeed, China regularly highlights the strides it has made in development terms, elements of which

are certainly praiseworthy (see the report of Professor Philip Alston, as special rapporteur on extreme poverty, from his visit to China in 2016). China has done remarkable things in other

areas, as well. Nonetheless, it is impossible to avoid the very serious ongoing allegations of human rights abuses under the authority of the Government of China. We, as independent UN

monitors, have regularly highlighted our concerns with the Government. All of our communications with the Government can be found at this database. Those communications (many of which are

linked in the statement) have addressed concerns about repression of the Uyghur population in Xinjiang, the attacks on autonomy and protest in Hong Kong, the role of censorship in the

country, the detention of lawyers and activists in Tibet and across the country, and many other issues of extremely serious concern. However, despite these communications, and regular

rejection of our concerns by the Government, the Government does not have a standing invitation to special procedures and has not invited an expert focused on civil and political rights

since 2005, when a mission concerning torture took place. The call for such measures is not all that unusual. In fact, we took the same approach the previous day, calling for an

investigation into the widespread threats in the Philippines. Such calls are a regular part of our work. Such monitoring is not an interference with the sovereignty of any State but an

example of robust implementation of the mandates the Human Rights Council has assigned us. If we avoided this kind of monitoring, we would be abandoning our mandated responsibilities. The

same day we issued our statement, China quickly objected. Saying that the Government “categorically rejects and strongly condemns” the UN experts’ statement China called the statement an

interference with its internal affairs. It also stated the following: > In recent years some Special Procedures “experts” have > repeatedly abused their mandates out of ulterior 

motives and made > press release based on unverified information to interfere with the > sovereignty and internal affairs of States, to the extent of > hijacking the work of the 

inter-governmental organization consisting > of sovereign States. These acts have gravely breached the Charter of > the United Nations, seriously undermined the credibility of the >

 Special Procedures and aroused concerns from more and more States. > The Human Rights Council must hold misconducts of “experts” > accountable to ensure that the Special Procedures 

truly facilitate > and contribute to the international human rights cause, instead of > becoming obstacles to or undoers of human rights the world over. A BRIEF REPLY It is entirely

fair and even important for China to object and to identify any statements or allegations made in error. Experts on China, for their part, may wish to weigh in on the specifics of our

statement and China’s response. But we make our assessments in good faith, and anyone who looks through the range of communications, whether by examining our press statements or

communications in the database linked above, will see that we call out all sorts of government behavior, whether from democratic or authoritarian States. Indeed, many democratic governments

wonder why we call _them_ out when there are such serious examples of repression worldwide. Much of the Government’s statement is consistent with past responses China has issued to human

rights monitoring and criticism. However, the last line should be of particular concern to all those who support independent human rights mechanisms in the UN system – the threat to hold

rapporteurs “accountable” for some kind of vague breach of standards. It’s true that the Council adopted a Code of Conduct in 2007 to guide Special Procedures, but there is nothing in that

document that precludes the kind of statement we issued yesterday. What’s more, there is nothing in our work that is contrary to the UN Charter or even the idea of “sovereignty” that some

governments like to invoke in the face of human rights criticism. It is critical to recall that the corpus of obligations the world knows as “human rights law” involves obligations that

States have accepted – whether through treaties or customary international law – to ensure that their own behavior _inside their own jurisdictions _meets fundamental standards _agreed by

States_. Monitoring human rights is not some interference with state sovereignty or an “external intervention in China’s domestic affairs.” Monitoring human rights is the international

community’s way to ensure that States meet their obligations to all people within their jurisdictions. That oversight is obviously uncomfortable for many States, but it is the nature of the

human rights system that the commitment to human rights means accepting that those obligations are international, owed to other States and to those subject to their jurisdiction. Human

rights monitoring by its nature involves investigating the “internal affairs” of States. There is no magic wand of sovereignty that can wave that away. UN Experts Call for Decisiv… by Just

Security on Scribd 联合国专家呼吁采取果断措施保护中国境内的基本自由 by Just Security on Scribd _IMAGE: CHINESE PRESIDENT XI JINPING MAKES A SPEECH DURING THE WELCOME BANQUET FOR LEADERS ATTENDING THE BELT AND ROAD

FORUM AT THE GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE ON APRIL 26, 2019 IN BEIJING, CHINA. (PHOTO BY NICOLAS ASFOURI – POOL/GETTY IMAGES)_ FEATURED IMAGE: China's Xi Jinping speaks at The Second Belt

And Road Forum For International Cooperation.