Human Rights Watch has called on the Central Committee of China's ruling Communist Party to take steps to address human rights abuses at its four-day meeting, which got underw ay Monday in Beijing.
HRW's China director, Sophie Richardson, said in a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is also the general-secretary of the Communist Party of China, that under his leadership "critical legal reforms have stalled and the state violates or fails to protect people's basic legal rights every day." She said "dramatic steps" are necessary if China is to acquire any human rights credibility, and recommended three actions.
Richardson's recommended measures are: releasing all people detained for peacefully expressing their views, withdrawing legally dubious decisions regarding Hong Kong, and committing to abolishing all forms of arbitrary detention.
The focus of this year's Central Committee meeting is the "rule of law."
