By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China– China’s human rights record under President Xi Jinping has come under formal international scrutiny for the first time since Xi took power. The main U.N. rights forum is set to hear accusations that the government has aggressively expanded a crackdown on dissent.

The United Nations Human Rights Council, which reviews all U.N. members every four years, will give concerned countries a chance to challenge the administration of Xi, who many experts believed would be less hardline than his predecessors.

Instead, critics say Xi has instituted a clampdown that has moved far beyond the mere targeting of dissidents seeking political change. Just recently authorities have detained at least 16 activists who had demanded that government officials publicly disclose their wealth. Dozens of other people, accused of online ‘rumor-mongering”, have also been detained.

“Xi Jinping has definitely taken the country backwards on human rights,” prominent rights lawyer Mo Shaoping told Reuters. “Look at the number of people who are being locked up and the measures that are being taken to lock them up.”

China will open the debate in Geneva with a presentation. Non-governmental organizations are not permitted to address the council but can submit reports, often reflected in statements offered by concerned countries.

The council has no binding authority. Its rotating membership of 47 states does not include China, although Beijing is expected to run for a spot next month. The hearing will be the second time China has been assessed under the process since it began in 2008.

Diplomats are likely to raise questions over China’s crackdown on dissent, the death penalty and the use of torture among other topics, reported Maya Wang, an Asia researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Of special concern, Wang said, is the arrest in August of prominent activist Xu Zhiyong, who had called for officials to reveal their wealth. Wang also cited the September disappearance of Cao Shunli, who had helped stage a sit-in this year outside the Foreign Ministry to press for the public to be allowed to contribute to a national human rights report.

China sent a large delegation to Geneva to engage in dialogue with an “open and frank attitude”, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Monday at a news conference.

“If there are some criticisms, some constructive criticisms, the Chinese government will listen with an open mind and accept them and will give them serious consideration,” she said. “As for malicious, deliberate criticisms, of course we will uphold our own path and our own correct judgments.”

In 2009, China rejected requests from Western and some Latin American nations to end the death penalty but agreed to suggestions from Cuba that it take firm action against “self-styled human rights defenders working against the Chinese state and people”.

The rise of Xi as Communist Party chief last November gave many Chinese hope for political reform, encouraging citizens to push officials to disclose their wealth in several movements throughout the country.

But the detention of activists making those calls is a strong indication the party will not tolerate open challenges to its rule, even though it boasts more transparency. These activists now face trial on charges of illegal assembly.

Hundreds of microbloggers, people who post short comments online, have also been detained. Beginning in August, a campaign against “rumor-mongering” was implemented to root-out and shutdown critical blogs. Most have been released, but some are still being held on criminal charges.

On Sunday, Chinese police arrested Wang Gongquan, a well-known venture capitalist. Wang had helped lead a campaign for the release of another activist. Chen Youxi, Wang’s attorney, did not answer calls to his mobile phone.

“Before, officials used a selective form of suppression, which is to say, they mainly suppressed rights lawyers and dissidents,” said Huang Qi, a veteran rights activist. “But in the past few months what the government used to allow some people to say online – things that violated or exceeded the official view – has now been suppressed.”

Li Fangping, a prominent rights lawyer, said China would likely win a seat on the council given its strong international influence.

“I don’t believe that China is ready for that,” Li said. “There are still a huge number of citizens for whom a lack of human rights is a growing problem.”

For more information, please see:

Herald Sun– China defends record at UN rights inquiry — 22 October 2013

BBC News– China before UN for human rights review — 22 October 2013

SwissInfo– China crackdown to come under scrutiny at U.N. rights review — 22 October 2013

AFP– China defends record at UN Human Rights Council — 22 October 2013

USA Today– China’s human rights abuses under scrutiny at United Nations — 22 October 2013