INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR TIBET CHINA’S NEW COUNTER-TERRORISM LAW: IMPLICATIONS AND DANGERS FOR TIBETANS AND UYGHURS A JOINT REPORT BY THE INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR TIBET AND FIDH - November 2016 - International Campaign for Tibet and FIDH would like to thank the Clingendael Institute for facilitating the roundtable discussion that took place on 7 June 2016. China’s New Counter-Terrorism Law - 3 INTRODUCTION On 1 January 2016, China’s new counter-terrorism law came into effect, despite serious concerns voiced by human rights groups regarding the potential for this law to be used to repress religious and ethnic groups. Following this, the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) and FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights) have engaged in several activities to discuss, analyse, and bring to light the risks and impacts of China’s new counter-terrorism law. On 10 March 2016, ICT and FIDH arranged a briefing in Geneva on the margins of the 31st session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council, to raise awareness among UN officials and diplomats on the negative impacts of this new law on Uyghurs and Tibetans.1 Shortly thereafter, on 7 June, ICT convened a roundtable discussion at the Clingendael Institute 2 in The Hague, a leading institute on international affairs, to which it invited experts from across Europe, the USA and Asia.3 The Clingendael conference brought together perspectives from the diplomatic and policy arenas as well as those of law, media, and academia. The speakers addressed the significance of China’s new law on counter-terrorism and explored its impacts at the national, regional and international levels. This report summarizes the analyses and conclusions from the 7 June round table, and reveals that concerns of the international community that the new law would strengthen an already restrictive security regime are well founded. Participants alerted the audience to the possible human rights consequences of the law due to its non-compliance with international standards and guidelines, including: the vague definition of terrorism in the legislation; the lack of independent judicial legal recourse; the reintroduction of the concept of ‘reform 1 ICT report, March 2, 2016, http://www.tibetpolicy.eu/un-human-rights-council-side-event-chinas-new-law-on-counter-terrorism-and-its-im- pacts-on-human-rights/ 2 http://www.clingendael.nl 3 ICT report, June 17, 2016, https://www.savetibet.org/ict-holds-high-level-roundtable-on-counter-terrorism-in-china/ China’s New Counter-Terrorism Law - 5 through education’ without the need for a criminal conviction for persons accused of posing a ‘danger to society’, and the increased concentration of power and attack on civil society by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping. Panelists expressed the view that the new legislation and its implementation are likely to be counter-productive, with fears that it may increase the risk of violence through individuals feeling they have no other recourse. By imposing a narrative that unrest in Tibet and East Turkestan are due to ‘outside influences’ - including Nobel Peace Prize Laureate the Dalai Lama being blamed for ‘terrorist activity’ - the Chinese leadership risks undermining the legitimacy of genuine international counter-terrorism efforts. In August 2016, senior UN advisor Philip G. Alston, a special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights for the United Nations, referred to these dangers when he said that the Chinese Communist Party’s tight grip on civil society was undermining basic rights and risking mass arrest. Mr. Alston, a New York University law professor who visited China in August, said that the Communist Party’s dominance of the legal system left citizens of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with few avenues to complain about issues like pollution and inequality, dismissing the process for filing grievances as ‘window dressing’.4 ICT and FIDH’s efforts to advocate for human rights in China will continue. We will discuss the findings and will present the recommendations of this report to governments, members of Parliaments, diplomats and other policy makers and experts. We hope this report will prove to be a useful contribution to the understanding of developments in the PRC, especially as they relate to Tibetans and Uyghurs, and that it will add clarity to policy discussions on this important matter. 4 China’s Crackdown on Dissent Could Lead to Unrest, U.N. Adviser Says, New York Times, 23 August 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/24/ world/asia/china-un-human-rights-philip-alston.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&_r=2 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................ 9 CONTEXT - Background ................................................................................................................. 12 - Articles of China’s new Counter-Terrorism Law and their human rights impacts ... 18 - The 7 June 2016 Round table ..................................................................................... 22 ROUND TABLE SESSION ONE The use and impacts of the counter-terror law on human rights, civil society and ethnic and religious groups: Assessment of the situation in China ................... 24 • Key legislative developments in China and impacts on Human Rights, Sharon Hom, Executive Director of Human Rights in China ......................................... 25 • The impact of the counter-terror law on Tibetans, Kelsang Gyaltsen, Special Representative of H.H. the Dalai Lama to Europe ............................................ 29 • The new security architecture in Tibet, Kate Saunders, Communications and Research Director, International Campaign for Tibet ................. 31 • The impacts of the anti-terror law on Uyghurs, Dolkun Isa, Executive Chairman of the World Uyghur Congress ...................................................... 34 • Chinese double standards on counter-terrorism, Ursula Gauthier, former Beijing Correspondent of L’Obs ......................................... 36 ROUND TABLE SESSION TWO What are the political solutions to ensure that human rights are not violated in the name of counter-terrorism activities? Regional and International perspectives ..................................................................... 39 • Chinese counter-terror law and its impacts on regional security: the point of view of India, Jayadeva Ranade, President of the Centre for China Analysis and Strategy and former Additional Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India .............................................................. 40 China’s New Counter-Terrorism Law - 7 • U.S. government’s position on the counter-terror law: Jessica Carl, Political Officer at the U.S. Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva .................................................................................... 43 • Security, civil society, foreign influence: What has changed in China under Xi Jinping’s leadership? Garrie van Pinxteren, Sinologist and Senior Visiting Fellow at the Clingendael Institute ........................................................ 46 • EU position on the new counter-terrorism law: Joëlle Hivonnet, Senior Policy Officer, China Division of the European External Action Service (EEAS) ..................................................................................... 48 • Will the anti-terror law be effective? Gabriel Lafitte, environmental economist and author of Spoiling Tibet: China and Resource Nationalism on the Roof of the World ....................................................................................................................... 53 RECOMMENDATIONS ......................................................................................... 54 • Recommendations to the People’s Republic of China ............................................. 54 • Recommendations to the International Community ............................................... 55 • Recommendations to Civil Society ............................................................................ 56 COMMENTS BY CLAUDE ARPI ...................................................................... 57 “Terrorism has become the scourge of humanity” ..................................................... 57 ANNEX ........................................................................................................................ 60 Biographies of the speakers to the 7 June 2016 Round table .................................... 60 China’s New Counter-Terrorism Law - 9 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • China’s new counter-terrorism law, 5 which came into effect on 1 January 2016, is part of a set of recently-adopted and proposed national security laws, including the National Security Law, effective as of 1 July 2015; the Law on the Management of Overseas NGOs’ Activities in Mainland China (hereafter, ‘NGO law’), adopted by the National People’s Congress on 28 April 2016 and due to come into effect on 1 January 2017; the draft Cybersecurity Law currently being discussed by the National People’s Congress; and related amendments to pre-existing laws (e.g. Criminal Law Amendment (9)). • These laws and other measures are essential components of a comprehensive security architecture being established by the Chinese authorities, encompassing military, political and Party propaganda objectives as well as heightened surveillance and media censorship. The dramatic expansion of the powers of military and police in the People’s Republic