Human rights in China

Human rights in the People's Republic of China are poor, as per reviews by international bodies, such as human rights treaty bodies and the United Nations Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC), their supporters, and other proponents claim that existing policies and enforcement measures are sufficient to guard against human rights abuses. However, Western countries, international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) including Human Rights in China and Amnesty International, as well as citizens, lawyers, and dissidents inside the country, state that the authorities in mainland China regularly sanction or organize abuses.

Independent NGOs, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, regularly present evidence of China violating the freedoms of speech, movement, and religion of its citizens and of others within its jurisdiction. Chinese authorities claim improvement in human rights, as they define them differently, so as to be dependent on "national culture" and the level of development of the country. Chinese politicians have repeatedly maintained that, according to an addition to the Chinese constitution in 1982, the Four Cardinal Principles supersede citizens' rights. Chinese officials interpret the primacy of the Four Cardinal Principles as a legal basis for the arrest of people who the government says seek to overthrow the principles; Chinese nationals whom authorities perceive to be in compliance with these principles, on the other hand, are permitted by the Chinese authorities to enjoy and exercise all the rights that come with Chinese citizenship, provided they do not violate Chinese laws in any other manner. The Four Cardinal principles include upholding the socialist road, upholding the people's democratic dictatorship, upholding the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and upholding Marxism–Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought.

Numerous human rights groups have publicized human rights issues in mainland China that they consider the government to be mishandling, including the death penalty (capital punishment), the one-child policy (prior to abolishing it in 2015), the political and legal status of Tibet, neglect of freedom of the press in mainland China, the lack of an independent judiciary, rule of law, and due process, the severe lack of workers' rights (in particular the hukou system which restricts migrant labourers' freedom of movement), the absence of labour unions independent of the CCP, allegations of discrimination against rural workers and ethnic minorities, the lack of religious freedom – rights groups have highlighted repression of the Christian, Tibetan Buddhist, Uyghur Muslim, and Falun Gong religious groups. Some Chinese activist groups are trying to expand these freedoms, including Human Rights in China, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, and the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group. Chinese human rights attorneys who take on cases related to these issues, however, often face harassment, disbarment, and arrest.

In a human rights report that assesses social, economic, and political freedoms, China has received the lowest ranking globally for safety from state actions and the right to assemble.