02 December 2005
Torture “widespread” in China according to UN representative
(NY Times) Manfred Nowak, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture declared that the use of torture is widespread in China and the country needs major structural reform to its legal system for the situation to improve. In a summary of his findings, Nowak said his team was under frequent surveillance during a two-week trip that included the Tibet Autonomous Region and Xinjiang - the first visit granted his office in a decade. However, Mr Nowak noted some progress by Chinese officials in reducing violence against prisoners since the country signed an international covenant banning torture in 1988. But the Special Rapporteur said that "obtaining confessions" and fighting "deviant behaviour" continued to be central goals of China's criminal justice system. He said surveillance and restrictions imposed by the Chinese authorities made it more difficult for him to get a complete view of the torture situation in the country and that a "culture of fear" was pervasive. In response, foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular news conference that China repudiated Mr Nowak’s findings, saying: "The rapporteur was only in China for two short weeks, and went to three cities after which he made the judgment that torture was widespread. This lacks an objective foundation and does not accord with reality".