Reports

Police Torture of Criminal Suspects in China

This 145-page report is based on Human Rights Watch analysis of hundreds of newly published court verdicts from across the country and interviews with 48 recent detainees, family members, lawyers, and former officials. Human Rights Watch found that police torture and ill-treatment of suspects in pretrial detention in China remains a serious problem.

A “tiger chair” specially designed to restrain detainees. Former detainees say that police often strap them into these metal chairs for hours and even days, depriving detainees of sleep, and immobilizing them until their legs and buttocks were swollen.
A woman looks out of the window of a damaged building

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  • March 11, 2008

    Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers in Beijing

    This 61-page report documents the Chinese government’s failure to fulfill long-repeated promises to protect the rights of migrant construction workers, as well as to end deprivations caused by the discriminatory nature of China’s household registration (hukou) system. An estimated 1 million migrant construction workers, hailing from other parts of China, make up nearly 90 percent of Beijing’s construction workforce.

  • August 6, 2007

    Media Freedoms Under Assault in China Ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

    This 40-page report documents how Chinese authorities have repeatedly obstructed the work of foreign journalists this year, even though China on January 1, 2007, adopted temporary regulations to comply with commitments it made to the International Olympics Committee (IOC) on guaranteeing journalists freedom. The report draws on interviews and information provided from 36 foreign and Chinese journalists in June 2007.