Thread by @sarahmcneer

THREAD: I promised I'd try my abest to #FactcheckChina at today's #ChinaUPR. But I find that's rather hard when the delegation statement isn't available online...

But as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Here are a few choice selections from the China PR campaign.

The whole point of protecting #HumanRights is to ensure equality for those who are NOT "the overwhelming majority". But it appear that #XiJinping Thought would have it otherwise.
#FactCheckChina

A colourful photo of streetlife in #Xinjiang. Which also happens to have seen a massive expansion of camps/detention facilities since 2016, where one might be locked up arbitrarily for simple religious expression. #FactcheckChina

Freedom of religion is guaranteed in the Chinese constitution, but Tibetan monasteries like #LarungGar have been destroyed and monks and nuns suppressed for expressing their views.

Plus, who are those dudes in orange?

And for despite claims about bilingual education at the #ChinaUPR, #TashiWangchuk was sent to prison for advocating that Tibetan youth learn Tibetan in schools (and for sharing that view with @nytimesworld)

However many millions of people the govt (or, in this photo, the CCP) claims have been "lifted out of poverty", it remains a top-down approach that leaves many behind - and that accepts neither advice nor appeal.

Get cheated out of your land? Evicted from your home? Sickened by a faulty vaccine? Too bad.

No matter how many docs are on this database, you'll have a hard time finding a lawyer, since #709crackdown has meant the muzzling of the legal profession.

At #ChinaUPR, govt said it had passed regs to protect and promote the legal profession, calling this "progress". But if you were a student that saw authorities disbar some lawyers and detain others, would YOU choose to be a public-interest lawyer?

The caption here says it all: NGO registration is mandatory, and the Public Security Bureau is in charge. This is a long way away from UN standards on #FoAA - and means that the human rights defenders are more isolated than ever.

#FactcheckChina

Government's opening statement at #ChinaUPR talked about the successes of socialist democracy. But term limits were abolished in March 2018, and #LiuPing and other independent candidates are still in jail.
#FactcheckChina

So all of this is a challenge for Chinese citizens, right? Not us?
Wrong.

China already leverages its investment and aid packages to encourage adoption of Chinese approaches to #humanrights. This should be a robust debate in civil society on the African continent.

Is this version of south-south human rights cooperation - that silences dissent and tolerates impunity - the kind of #sharedfuture that we as a global community want?
#ChinaUPR

Before I end this thread, one last chance to #FactcheckChina: China's "active role" in the UN means largely blocking CSOs and impeding cooperation, including at #ChinaUPR. This has a cost.

For some, its detentions or travel bans. For #CaoShunli, it cost her her life.