New York, June 3 (IANS) US-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Chinese government of intensifying efforts to erase the memory of the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre while tightening social control across the country.
Wednesday marks the 37th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
The events leading to the Tiananmen Massacre began in April 1989 when students, workers, and others gathered peacefully in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, calling for free expression, democratic reform, and an end to corruption. On June 3-4 that year, the Chinese army opened fire on protesters and bystanders in Beijing, killing several people.
According to the HRW, Chinese authorities have long banned commemorations of the massacre on the mainland. The rights body claimed that no steps have been taken by Beijing to provide information or compensation to the families of those who died or to prosecute those responsible for the killings.
“By burying the past, the Chinese government is also burying respect for fundamental rights in the future. The government should cease censorship of the Tiananmen Massacre, allow commemorations, compensate the victims’ families, and free those imprisoned for pressing for accountability and justice,” said Yalkun Uluyol, a China researcher at HRW.
The rights body noted that on May 27 this year the Tiananmen Mothers issued a statement, signed by 107 members, urging the Chinese government to “address, through lawful means and in a spirit of peace and reason, all the wounds and unresolved injustices left by those events and to restore justice and dignity to every family that lost a loved one.”
The HRW further highlighted that last year in Beijing, the Public Security Bureau obstructed a New Year gathering of the Tiananmen Mothers for the first time since the victim advocacy group began holding such gatherings in 2009.
Expressing concern, the victim advocacy group said that they “not only failed to see any sincere efforts from the government to address the massacre of innocent people during the 1989 student movement … but instead witnessed the cold reality of government security forces abusing their power to obstruct citizens’ legitimate social rights!”
Following the Tiananmen Massacre, the HRW said, the Chinese government carried out a nationwide crackdown and arrested thousands of people on “counter-revolution” and other criminal charges, including arson and disrupting social order.
“The government has never accepted responsibility for the massacre or held any officials legally accountable for the killings. It has not investigated the events or released data on those killed, injured, forcibly disappeared, or imprisoned. Tiananmen Mothers have documented the killings of 202 people during the suppression of the movement in Beijing and other cities,” the rights body stated.
The HRW called on the global community to renew efforts holding the Chinese government accountable for past grave abuses.
“Despite Beijing’s censorship, intimidation, and severe repression, Chinese and Hong Kong people around the world continue to commemorate the Tiananmen Massacre,” Uluyol said.
“Concerned governments should recognize their efforts and press the Chinese government to accept responsibility for the massacre, provide reparations, and hold the officials responsible to account,” he added.
–IANS
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