Human Rights as 'Foreign Affairs': China's Reporting Under Human Rights Treaties

Abstract

The review by the United Nations of China's initial report under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in April 2005 will put the PRC in the human rights spotlight. This makes it timely to look back at China's reporting under human rights treaties over the last 20 years. This article focuses on China's procedural and de jure compliance with human rights treaties, including the question of the status of international human rights law in the domestic legal order. Through this lens, the article seeks to elucidate China's view of its domestic and international obligations under international human rights law. The author argues that the Chinese government essentially views these obligations as a matter of foreign affairs, and seeks to insulate the domestic arena from the reach of international human rights law, both in symbolic and practical terms.