- Title: CHINA: Beijing pledges reform to the petitioning system
- Date: 28th November 2013
- Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (NOVEMBER 28, 2013) (REUTERS) OFFICIALS WALKING IN FOR NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS SITTING (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF CHINESE STATE BUREAU FOR LETTERS AND CALLS, LI GAO SAYING: "The law guarantees Chinese citizens' rights to voice their grievances and make comments and suggestions. The State Bureau For Letters and Calls has repeatedly issued orders that forbid any form of attempts to prevent people's legitimate petitioning and retaliation against petitioners. We will deal with individual cases of detention, blocking, and interception one by one when we come across them, we will not tolerate them. Thank you." LI SITTING DURING NEWS CONFERENCE PETITIONERS STANDING OUTSIDE STATE COUNCIL INFORMATION OFFICE, HOLDING PLACARDS AND BANNERS WOMAN SHOUTING AND HOLDING SIGN PETITIONERS HOLDING BANNER READING (Mandarin): "HOPING PETITIONING SYSTEM REFORM LEADS TO SOLUTIONS TO OUR PROBLEMS" PETITIONER FROM EASTERN JIANGSU PROVINCE, JU XIAOLING, HOLDING PLACARD READING (Mandarin): "JIANGSU COURT, WRONGFUL SENTENCES" (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) PETITIONER FROM EASTERN JIANGSU PROVINCE, JU XIAOLING SAYING: "He was left with no other choice (but to detonate a bomb at the airport). We are being forced to resort to extreme measures too, as our grievances are not redressed. We have no reason to live any more." CAMERA CREWS FILMING PETITIONERS WOMAN HOLDING PLACARD TALKING TO JOURNALISTS, AND A PLAIN-CLOTHES POLICE RUSHING OVER GRABBING HER PLACARD AND WALKING TOWARDS COMPOUND OF STATE COUNCIL INFORMATION OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) PETITIONER FROM NORTHERN HEBEI PROVINCE, LIU MINGJIE SAYING: "What are you announcing in there? You Communist Party members are gangsters. You deprive people of human rights. You say one thing, and do another. You are wolves in sheep's clothing. You are good at bad deeds. You are going too far." VARIOUS OF PLAIN-CLOTHES POLICE STANDING AT GATE TO STATE COUNCIL INFORMATION OFFICE WOMAN HOLDING SIGN AND COMPLAINING TO JOURNALISTS PETITIONERS HOLDING UP SIGNS (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) PETITIONER FROM EASTERN JIANGSU PROVINCE, CHEN LIXIU SAYING: "They sent us ordinary people to labour camps. We don't have human rights. We demand human rights. They robbed us. We demand compensation. They rob people everywhere. They took our houses, and they took our homes. They left us with nothing." VARIOUS OF PETITIONERS SHOUTING AND HOLDING PLACARDS
- Embargoed: 13th December 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
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- Country: China
- Topics: General,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA9DEML8EU3MWQUWX40R6ENOD0W
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- Story Text: The Chinese government has pledged to reform the petitioning system, a centuries-old form of protest that draws thousands of people to Beijing each year seeking justice in an inflexible political system.
Thousands of petitioners throng Beijing at any given moment, hoping that higher authorities will resolve injustices and disputes left festering back at home.
Many were roughly rounded up and brought back home by local governments trying to prevent their complaints from triggering unwelcome intervention from Beijing.
Officials from the country's top petition bureau, officially known as the State Bureau for Letters and Calls, pledged the same would never happen again.
"The law guarantees Chinese citizens' rights to voice their grievances and make comments and suggestions. The State Bureau For Letters and Calls has repeatedly issued orders that forbid any form of attempts to prevent people's legitimate petitioning and retaliation against petitioners. We will deal with individual cases of detention, blocking, and interception one by one when we come across them, we will not tolerate them. Thank you," Deputy Director Li Gao told reporters on Thursday (November 28).
Over a dozen of petitioners gathered outside the State Council Information Office, the venue of the news conference, to protest.
They told their stories to foreign media, holding up placards where they wrote their grievances and contact information, before being dispersed by plain-clothes police.
Petitioning officials has deep roots in China, where courts are seen as beyond the reach of ordinary people. Petitioners often try to take local disputes ranging from land grabs to corruption, to higher authorities in the capital Beijing.
But studies show only small numbers are ever able to resolve their cases through petitioning. In many cases, petitioners are rounded up in Beijing by men hired by provincial authorities to prevent the central government from learning of problems in outlying regions.
Petitioners unable to win redress for grievances have in the past resorted to extreme measures, including bombings, but such incidents are rare because of tight state security Ji Zhongxing, a Chinese man in a wheelchair, shocked the world by detonating a home-made bomb in Beijing's airport after trying to draw attention to a nearly decade-long legal battle in July this year.
Many petitioners sympathised with Ji.
"He was left with no other choice (but to detonate a bomb at the airport). We are being forced to resort to extreme measures too, as our grievances are not redressed. We have no reason to live any more," said Ju Xiaoling, a petitioner from eastern Jiangsu province.
China has promised to set up an online petitioning system and settle people's cases in a timely manner and at local levels. The decision was approved at a party plenum in early November, Li Gao said.
Petitioners gathered outside were not convinced.
"What are you announcing in there? You Communist Party members are gangsters. You deprive people of human rights. You say one thing, and do another. You are wolves in sheep's clothing. You are good at bad deeds. You are going too far," said another petitioner, Liu Mingjie from eastern Hebei province.
Despite international criticism, petitioners are often forced home or held in "black jails", unlawful secret detention facilities, such as labour camps, where detainees can be subjected to beatings, sleep and food deprivation and psychological abuse.
Chen Lixiu, a petitioner from eastern Jiangsu province, said she was one of the victims.
"They sent us ordinary people to labour camps. We don't have human rights. We demand human rights. They robbed us. We demand compensation. They rob people everywhere. They took our houses, and they took our homes. They left us with nothing," Chen told reporters.
China has denied the existence of these facilities. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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