Human rights

PM David Cameron meeting with Chinese civil society representatives

Overview

The protection and promotion of human rights is one of the priorities of British foreign policy. The British government believes that the interests of the United Kingdom are best served in an international society that is based on good governance, democracy and rule of law.

The UK recognises China's success in promoting economic and social rights. At the same time, we continue to encourage China to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and protect the universal human rights of all its citizens.

Our engagement with China on human rights is comprehensive, working with Chinese civil society and government officials on a number of levels. We believe that private channels offer the best chance of delivering meaningful change on issues that are often viewed as sensitive by the Chinese Government. As such, the following information does not give details of our full engagement but instead reflects the type of work we do to promote human rights in China and encourage reform. This includes the UK-China and EU-China Human Rights Dialogues, ministerial activity, project work and work with civil society.

Please refer to the FCO human rights website for further information on the UK's position on human rights in China and elsewhere.

UK-China & EU-China Human Rights Dialogues

The UK-China Human Rights Dialogue is held regularly between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs with participants from legislative, judicial and law-enforcement departments. In recent years, the Dialogue has also included civil society representatives. Since its inception in 1997, the dialogue has been successful in opening up the scope of discussion and increasing understanding of human rights issues on both sides.

In addition to our bilateral Dialogue meetings, the UK contributes to the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue. This mechanism, established in 1995, allows the European Union to raise issues of concern such as the death penalty, re-education through labour, ethnic minority rights, and civil and political freedoms. The Chinese delegation also raises its concerns over human rights in the EU.

Ministerial activity

The UK frequently takes the opportunity to raise human rights issues at the highest level. Human rights formed part of the Prime Minister’s discussions with Premier Wen Jiabao at the last annual UK-China Summit, held in the UK on 25-27 June 2011. At their joint press conference the Prime Minister stated that the development of civil society, freedom of expression, the rule of law and respect for human rights underpins stability and prosperity for all countries. The Foreign Secretary discussed human rights and political reform with State Councillor Dai Bingguo at the UK-China Strategic Dialogue on 26 September 2011. He also raised human rights issues with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in their meeting in the margins of the UN General Assembly on 22 September 2011. FCO Minister for Human Rights Jeremy Browne raised human rights issues when he met with Vice-Minister Fu Ying in Beijing on 15 November 2011. He also spoke about the importance of the Rule of Law and the use of evidence in a speech at Fudan University, as part of a seminar on legal reform.

Project Work

The UK believes that constructive engagement with China on human rights means complementing high level dialogues and ministerial activities with practical co-operation at project level. The UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office funds projects in a number of countries to support action on global issues in areas of strategic importance to the UK.

We work with Chinese legislative, judicial and law enforcing departments, and non-governmental organisations and academic institutions to implement projects in four priority areas: abolishing the death penalty, reforming the criminal justice system, civil society and promoting freedom of expression.

Recent project work in these areas has included: bringing European experts on capital punishment to China for technical legal exchanges; facilitating exchanges between Chinese officials and their European counterparts on the management of prisons and other detention facilities; supporting Chinese experts, lawyers and judges working to improve implementation of evidence rules in criminal trials; and supporting Chinese civil society organizations carrying out dialogues with European partners on issues such as environmental protection and labour rights.

More details of the FCO human rights and democracy project work, including on how to bid for funding, are available on the FCO Website.

Civil Society

The UK is committed to supporting the emergence of independent civil society in China. The British Council runs a project to train social entrepreneurs and the Embassy works with grassroots civil society representatives to mark various international days throughout the year.

UK in China