A UK-based religious freedom advocacy has said it remains “deeply concerned” about violations of religious freedoms and other human rights in China and has urged G20 leaders to “use every opportunity” to raise concerns during a summit in China next week.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide said Zhejiang province, where the summit will be held, has made headlines since 2014 because of a campaign “which allegedly aims to rid the province of structures which violate building regulations, but which critics say targets churches”.
“Under the campaign hundreds of crosses have been removed from churches, and the authorities have sometimes employed violent tactics in the face of protests by members,” the organisation said in a statement this week, noting that several Christian leaders who opposed the cross removals have been arrested and accused of economic crimes.
The organisation has also expressed concern about other “ongoing and serious human rights violations” across the country including the arrest, interrogation, detention and disappearance of more than 300 human rights lawyers, activists, their colleagues and family members since July, 2015. While some detainees have since been released on bail after making televised “confessions” which CSW says are “believed to have been coerced”, other lawyers and activists have been convicted of subversion and sentenced to lengthy jail terms.
Mervyn Thomas, CSW’s chief executive, says the organisation is “deeply concerned” about the “ongoing and extremely serious decline in human rights standards in China, and the repression of civil society”.
“The cross removals in Zhejiang have undermined any trust between the Christian community there and the state,” he said. He added that reports religious activities in Hangzhou have been restricted in the lead-up to and during the G20 Summit “further demonstrate the authorities’ approach to religion as a ‘security issue'”. “We believe G20 leaders should use every opportunity to raise these concerns with their Chinese counterparts.”
CSW has also called on US President Barack Obama, who will visit Laos following the summit in China, to address religious freedom violations which have also been reported in that nation, particularly with regard to “ethnic minority Christians”.
Earlier this week, CSW called for the judicial review of the case of a Uyghur Christian serving a 15 year prison term in China for “illegally providing state secrets to foreign nationals”.
Alimujan Yimit, also known as Alimjan Yimit or Alimujiang Yimiti, has denied the charges he was convicted of in 2009. CSW says those familiar with the case “believe his detention is connected with a set of earlier charges put forward by the Kashgar Municipal Bureau for Ethnic and Religious Affairs in Xinjiang, relating to his ‘illegal’ religious activities as the leader of an unregistered church”.
“We believe the charges against him are groundless and that he is being penalised for his peaceful religious activities as an unregistered church leader,” said Mr Thomas. “We urge the authorities to re-assess his case thoroughly, impartially and without delay, with a view to securing his unconditional release. We further call on the government to ensure that any persons found responsible for Yimit’s wrongful imprisonment and/or ill-treatment in detention are held accountable and to ensure that Yimit’s current conditions in detention comply with international standards.”
