CHINESE ABUSES OF WOMEN'S AND HUMANS' RIGHTS The Washington Posts series on abuses of women suggested that official socialist-Chinese policy is to empower women. But the worst abuse is China's very official "family planning" one- child coercion. Aside from the government-produced famines in the Soviet Union in the 1930s and in China in 1959-1961, the most horrible violation of human life is the denial to perhaps 100 million Chinese couples of a second (or subsequent) child. This includes the forcing of IUDs into the wombs of 100 million Chinese women against their wills, mandatory X-rays every three months to ensure that the IUDs have not been removed, economic punishment and sometimes forced abortion of those women who conceive "ille- gally," and documented infanticides in Mongolia. These practices also are very relevant to the Clinton administration's decision about trade policy toward China in connection with the abuses of human rights. In comparison, Tiananmen Square was just a stroll in the park. The Chinese and American population-control advocates are forever saying, Yes, there was coercion in the past, but the abuses were local, unauthorized, and no longer occur. Once again this is revealed as a lie by the new Chinese law to prevent the "floating population" from having children. Though it has a sinister ring, "floating population" simply refers to anyone who leaves his or her locality without permission of the reigning cadres, to make money or for personal reasons -- or to evade the edict against a second child. [If you or I move to another city for a job or because we like it better than where we are, we would be "floating population" in the eyes of the Chinese government. This concept only has meaning in a feudal-like unfree society where people are legally tied to place and employment.] In response to people escaping the net of population coer- cion, the Chinese have recently "promulgated for enforcement" the new Decree entitled "Measures for the Management of the Floating Population". The purpose is clear: "Article 1: These MEASURES are formulated for the purpose of strengthening the management of family planning of the floating population so as to effectively control population growth." To ensure tight control over the population, "The local people's governments shall exercise a unified leadership over the...floating population...in ...comprehensive management of family planning". To have a baby, you must get official permission. So the Decree describes the devices by which families' behavior will be managed. "The application for a birth permit by persons among the floating population shall be subject to the examination and approval, in accordance with the relevant regulations of the locality, by the administrative departments of family planning or the township (or town) people's governments or the urban subdis- trict offices in the places where their habitual residence is registered...people's governments... are...to inspect the situa- tion of contraception practice among persons of childbearing age ...to check certificates of contraception practice...super- vise...contraception ...issue to persons of childbearing age certificates of family planning." "The certification of family planning shall include the following items: name, sex, age, marital status...the status of childbearing, the status of contraception practice, incentives and disincentives for family planning, etc..." "Persons of the floating population shall, prior to the application for a temporary residence permit, a business license or a work permit and the like, submit for examination their certificates of contraception practice ........" "The administrative departments of family planning in the places of such person's present residence shall, after checking the certificates of contraception practice, make registration thereof and issue certificates of checking ........" "Departments concerned shall, in examining and approving certificates for a temporary residence permit, business license, work permit and the like, verify the certificates of checking of contraception practice issued by the administrative departments of family planning ........ and shall make examining and approv- ing results known to the local administrative departments of family planning ........" Police-state machinery requires sanctions to keep people in line: "Units or individuals that fail to fulfill the require- ments of family planning target management due to irresponsible manner towards work shall be dealt with by the local people's governments and departments concerned ........ Those persons among the floating population who violate regulations on family planning shall be dealt with ........" "Where persons with unauthorized births among the floating population are not discovered in the places of their present residence, the departments concerned in the places where their habitual residence is registered shall, as soon as such persons are discovered, be responsible to deal with them in accordance with the relevant regulations." [There also is provision to punish those who are so desperate to have another child that "certificates of family planning are forged, sold or obtained through deception. In those cases, "departments of family planning management at or above the county level may impose on persons who bear the direct responsibilities administrative sanctions such as warnings and fines, and may also confiscate their illegal gains..."] page 1/article3 china93/February 22, 1993 DECREE of the State Family Planning Commission of the People's Republic of China (No. 1, December 26, 1991). From China Population Today, Vol 9, No. 1, February 1992. China continues to be guilty of [Why do we not hear speeches from the feminist movement denouncing these violations of women's rights? Or see Planned Parenthood advertisements decrying this trampling on reproductive rights?] page 2/article3 china93/February 22, 1993