There's no question that fundamental questions about violations and international humanitarian law are being raised by actions in Chechnya. The report said China's human rights record worsened in 1999 as authorities cracked down on the China Democracy Party, the Falun Gong spiritual movement, the media and unregistered churches. The report said several thousand people are in Chinese jails, in violation of international conventions, for peacefully expressing their political, religious and social views. The United States has already announced that it will sponsor a resolution critical of China at a meeting in March in Geneva of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. The State Department did, however, see some improvements in the level of freedom in China, noting that village elections took place, as well as experiments with elections at the higher level of township.
Religious minorities suffer repression.
Security forces routinely tortured, beat, raped and otherwise abused detainees. Many political detainees are held for years without charge. Anti-Semitism also was found in both the government and opposition press. Authorities undertook a sustained, systematic campaign to destroy the National League for Democracy without formally banning it. Cuban authorities routinely harass, threaten, arbitrarily arrest, detain, imprison and defame human rights advocates and members of independent professional associations.