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Monday March 8th is International Women’s Day. It also opens the last week of the Beijing+15 Review by the Commission on The Status Of Women in New York, an event which has witnessed a range of subjects being debated, condemned and exposed. Sadly the issue of China’s program of forced sterilizations has received no such interest, which is extremely disappointing as this constitutes a major violation of women’s human and reproductive rights.
During the conference Tibetruth has been very fortunate to cooperate with some extraordinary women, who share a genuine concern that this subject is ignored by the CSW and some NGO’s. Every effort must be made to support and encourage that enlightened and committed minority, it is not a shortage of documentation or evidence, but a political and ideological resistance which must be challenged. A demand that the CSW return to basic principles and act with integrity and compassion, by recognizing that these atrocities are a violent assualt upon women’s rights. If it is to retain any ethical or moral authority, with respect to women’s issues, it cannot continue to callously ignore China’s state engineered terrorism against women.
Tibettruth would like to extend heartfelt thanks to all our friends and supporters on Twitter and Facebook, who have been inspiring and generous in their action on this issue. To women-of-the-world, celebrate this important date, in doing so however please spare a moment to consider the plight of women in China and occupied nations such as Tibet and East Turkestan.
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Tibettruth offers on-line campaigns, news and factual information on a range of human rights themes. Prominent among these is communist China’s treatment of women and in particular its coercive population control program, which as is now well known grossly violates the principle of freedom of choice and a woman’s right to control over her own body. In occupied Tibet, East Turkestan and communist China women are denied these freedoms and subject to the dictate of a regime that inflicts a series of draconian penalties; including financial/mental/physical coercion, including forced sterilizations. The extent and nature of these abuses is staggering, yet what is equally alarming is the uncaring reaction of the Commission On The Status Of Women and its NGO Committee. One can only imagine the reaction if women in Germany were subject to a population progam that witnessed women dragged from their home, beaten, tied to a medical slab and forcibly sterilised. There would be riots on the streets and rightly so!
Such barbarity is a central element in China’s population programme and has traumatised countless women across the communist Chinese Empire and yet all we have from the Commission on the Status of Women and its NGO Committee is silence. How can any balanced and intelligent feminist claim to be genuinely concerned about human rights, and yet ignore or deny the plight of women subject to this brutality? Following fifteen years (since the Beijing Declaration of 1995) of in-action and fudging from the CSW it seems we dealing, not with a lack-of-evidence, but a singular lack of compassion and integrity.
True, it is an appalling subject and perhaps too horrific for some, understandable psychology to pretend its not happening, although such denial could be argued to be ethically troubling. For others it would appear that reducing global population levels is worth any price, including human rights violations (even the devastated lives of our sisters in Tibet, East Turkestan and Communist China). Others among may hold all things communist/socialist in fond regard and so shunt any inconvenient or odious manifestations of that dogma into a siding far away from any prying conscience. It appears very easy for some to be driven by their chosen world-view to the exclusion of facts, particularly those which may destabilise a perspective that places economic, educational rights above other equally important freedoms. Surely all are equal and interdependent?
Whatever the reasoning, this issue lies at the core of feminist ideology, touching, as it does, on a woman’s rights to freedom-of-choice and control over her own our own body. Such fundamental freedoms do not exist under communist Chinese rule, the state’s needs are seen as greater than those of the individual. It’s fifteen years since delegates arrived in Beijing for the UN Conference fuelled by the noble vision of furthering women’s rights. During that time the systematic abuse against women has continued, making a mockery of the recommendations and agreements of the Platform-for-Action and Beijing Declaration. We were assured that involvement in the Beijing Conference would help moderate the grim excesses of China’s totalitarian machine and improve the plight of women. As was predicted by those organisations which boycotted the event, the violations resulting from the program have remain; forced sterilisations, torture, arbitrary arrests, forced abortions, and infanticide.
Yet however abhorrent this harrowing human rights record may be, what is equally offensive is the cold-blooded indifference which has greeted this issue. In keeping a shameful silence on the plight of Muslim-Uighur, Tibetan and Chinese women, those who are aware of this major violation of women’s rights are concealing these atrocities. The Commission on the Status of Women (and its associated NGO Committee) have consistently ignored and avoided this issue, and refused to campaign in support of their sisters traumatized by the harrowing violence of China’s program of forced sterilizations. The traumatised women of East Turkestan, Tibet and communist China have little to thank them for, and no reason to celebrate the forthcoming International Women’s Day.
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“From the beginning to the end, each village and town must give the highest priority to the tubal-ligation of women who have given birth to two girls, especially within those villages where these women have not yet had their tubes tied. We must demonstrate dogged determination and to the bodies of every cadre. Set the time and set the assignment. On multiple levels and using different channels, we should obtain information on spouses who are attempting to flee the county. By hook or crook, we must carry out contraceptive measures and every village must meet at least one of its target assignments.”
(Speech made by Tian Xiangrong 31 July 2006 Tongwei County Government (Online—As Documented in the US Congressional Executive Commission on China-Annual Report 2008.)
How can the UN Commission On The Status Of Women (CSW) continue to ignore these gross violations of women’s human rights and not even condemn China’s population program, which through its forced sterilizations and other forms of coercion and oppression violates the commitments of both the Beijing Declaration and Platform For Action
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Truth By Jules Joseph Lefebvre
On February 10 2011 Chinese ‘one child policy’ activist, Chen Guangcheng and his wife were beaten senseless by China’s security thugs in retaliation for the release of video footage documenting atrocities caused by China’s notorious population control program. Not that such a vicious assault would have concerned prominent Women’s NGO’s attending the 55th Session of the CSW in New York, who have remained callously indifferent to China’s mass programs of forced sterilizations, maintaining a collective silence on the subject, despite being acutely aware of the violations forced upon countless women across China, and occupied territories such as Tibet and East Turkestan.
As noted previously, there is a minority participating at the Commission on the Status of Women’s (CSW) current session who would wish to hang a sign outside the door saying ‘private party’. They see the event more as a festival than a vital platform to critically examine such a major issue, or to seriously advance women’s human rights. That is not to devalue the understandable sense of harmony and camaraderie felt at such gatherings, which offer an important opportunity to assemble in solidarity. Moreover, there is much to be positive about, most importantly the motivation and commitment evident, particularly from younger women, whose voice provides a refreshing challenge to the prevailing orthodoxy and stasis which continues to preside over such events. However, some would prefer that the inconvenient reality of China’s program of forced sterilizations did not intrude and disturb the occasion.
Yet if these meetings are to be genuinely representative, and any true progress is to occur, then the CSW and its NGO Committee must be willing to accommodate more youthful contributions, and act upon the range of concerns which have been raised thus far. To reject and censor issues which are not deemed to be politically correct, is a corrosive hypocrisy that tramples over the suffering of women in China, Tibet and East Turkestan, and denies the CSW any moral or ethical authority to speak on women’s human rights. It is significant to note that the tremendous support Tibettruth has received on the issue of China’s violations of women’s human rights, as a result of its coercive population program, has been from younger women.
Yet, as witnessed by the callous refusal to even debate this major human rights issue at the CSW and NGO parallel events, there is an adamantine resistance shared among prominent and influential activists. The architects of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action were implacably opposed to any meaningful debate of this subject in 1995, little it appears has changed. If anything the prejudices and opposition to any exposure and criticism of China’s atrocities has fossilized during that time. Despite the continuing emergence of evidence and information documenting the tyranny of forced sterilizations in China and occupied Tibet and East Turkestan.
Thankfully a younger generation of women are expressing concern at the plight of their sisters and willing to speak out, however the presiding cabal, in their compassionless indifference, ensure that the subject is not featured by either the CSW or related NGO Forums. There is every reason to celebrate and value the genuine achievements of female activists, but such joy cannot be at the expense of ignoring the atrocities inflicted by China’s population program. It is surely time for the truth to be acknowledged, expressed and acted upon
Meng Xiaosi- Key Speaker At Today's CSW Conference
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Meet Meng Xiaosi, member of China’s communist party, Minister and Vice-Chairperson of National Committee on Women and Children under the State Council China, and vice president of the All China Women’s Federation (ACWF), a national organisation that enforces China’s notorious population control policies upon women in China, and occupied Tibet and East Turkestan. The automata-like members of her organization infest every village, town and city and are responsible at a local level for the enforcement of the population program. Through a spiral of intimidation and coercion they trample over women’s human and reproductive rights to meet Goverment population targets, imposing fines, organizing education campaigns, withdrawing employment and housing rights, and if such bullying fails, forcibly sterilizing women.
Such harrowing atrocities are all committed in loyal obedience to China’s communist party ideology. Anyone wishing to learn more about the ACWF is advised to read Susan Greenhalgh’s : Governing China’s Population: From Leninist to Neoliberal Biopolitics 2005 or Chinese State Birth Planning in the 1990s and Beyond, Resource Information Center, Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), US Department of Justice, Perspective Series, September, pp.77-79 –Attachment 17)
Today Ms Meng will address the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) which is conducting its fifteen year review of the Beijing Declaration, a toothless instrument that, among a range of other areas, supposedly committed China to eradicate coercive practices relating to reproductive health. The sad and tragic reality is that since 1995 the abuses have continued, engineered and authorized by China’s regime. These have beene ignored by the compassionless eyes of the CSW and many women’s NGOs, who have assembled again to review the supposed progress and achievments of the Declaration.
Given the speakers involved, and more importantly the political agendas of member states, we cannot expect any genuine critique and certainly no examination of China’s continuing violation of women’s human rights and medical atrocities suffered by countless women. In advance of this review member states were invited to complete a questionnaire on the implementation (and related issues) to the Bejing Declaration; to which China was a signatory, having agreed by its ratification to eliminate coercive practices such as forced sterilizations.
It’s response is a masterwork of evasion and propaganda that carefully avoids any refrence to reprodiuctive rights and its population program. See here: China’s Lies, Omissions and Distortions To The CSW Of course the CSW is acutely aware of this cynical ommision yet has shamefully remained silent.
It is the task of those who truly are committed to women’s human rights to stand up and challenge this concealment. Please join us in our effort to expose the suffering of women in China, Tibet and East Turkestan by sending Tibettruth’s Briefing Paper to the Commission On The Status of Women c/o daw@un.org and request them to give full examination of this major issue of women’s human rights.
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