Watch Now: China's Assault on Human Rights at Home and Abroad

The Chinese government is imposing the most severe repression since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. As Xi Jinping begins a third term as the country’s leader, China is flouting human rights not only within its own borders, but around the world.

In the past year alone – which saw some of the biggest anti-government protests in over thirty years – China enforced one of the world’s strictest COVID-19 policies, with millions of people subject to highly restrictive lockdowns that disrupted their lives; attacked press freedom in Hong Kong; and prosecuted its citizens for social media posts or private conversations about political issues.

However, China is also sensitive to its international standing, and is determined to undermine global human rights accountability mechanisms. Just months after the UN released a report condemning Chinese authorities’ treatment of the Uyghurs, China and its allies voted to cancel a Human Rights Council debate on the issue.

What are the prospects for human rights in China? How is the Chinese government using the international system to suppress debate on its human rights record and weaken accountability for human rights more broadly? Could international pressure ever change China’s repressive policies? Learn more by watching this Perry World House event.

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