In July 2023, The Rights Practice submitted a report to inform the fourth cycle of the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of China, due to take place in January 2024. The UPR is a mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council in which the human rights obligations of all UN Member States are reviewed.

We are particularly concerned that since the third cycle of the UPR in 2018, national security has remained a core concept in Chinese Communist Party governance and an overarching framework. It is broadly defined and has been increasingly used to securitise Chinese civil society including human rights lawyers and in the mass deprivation of liberty of Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

States’ recommendations at the UPR should highlight China's use of national security provisions to limit fair trial rights, arbitrarily deprive individuals of their liberty and restrict public participation.

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