China taken to the UN for use of Forced TV Confessions

Madrid, Spain, 2020-08-11 – Today Safeguard Defenders, along with a group of non-governmental organizations, filed a comprehensive review to nine UN agencies on China’s use of forced TV confessions, and the many violations that almost always precede them – ranging from severe torture, enforced disappearance, threats against victim’s children to deprivation of the right to a fair trial. This follows a recent conviction by media regulator Ofcom against Chinese State/Party TV CGTN for broadcasting Forced TV Confessions in the United Kingdom, while several more broadcast violations are pending decisions in the UK, Canada and the United States.

The 11-page submission, along with an exhaustive 37-page Appendix, draws from data collected by Safeguard Defenders and extensive testimonies from a range of victims. It describes the frequent violations that are connected to core rights abuse — the deprivation of the right to a fair trial. Data provided shows the lack of judicial independence of judges and lawyers, the use of arbitrary detention, the frequent use of enforced or involuntary disappearances, the use of torture, physical and mental health abuse, the denial of right to privacy and the right to freedom of expression, as well as protections for human rights defenders, and the use of violence against women.

Hong Kong Free Pree have created a channel of these confessions

The groups; Safeguard Defenders, ChinaAid, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Front Line Defenders, Human Rights Watch (HRW), Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) call on the UN Special Procedures to launch a full review of the practice, and propose to the Chinese government steps to take in reducing and eliminating the use of forced televised confessions, and the violations that are tied to the practice.