China certainly does not have a spotless human rights record. Yet, in recent years, the international community has witnessed China claim its unyielding effort to nationally promoting human rights. Just earlier this year the government announced its National Human Rights Action Plan. In 2004, the statement, "the state respects and preserves human rights," was added to their constitution. Although the government actively presents to the world and its people a pro-human rights policy, China is facing fervent discontent by many human rights organizations such as Chinese Human Rights Defenders and Human Rights Watch. In fact, Human Rights Watch published a report detailing the current predicament of "black jails" in China that are clandestinely operated on a local and provincial level, but are at least inadvertently supported by the central government.

The report, entitled "An Alleyway in Hell," is a profound and provocative unveiling of the human rights abuses occurring in these illegal detainments. Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, the Chinese government absolutely denies that "black jails" exist in China, and it has taken no action to confront this issue. The denouncement of the existence of "black jails" is outrageous considering that the Human Rights Watch report interviewed 38 former detainees, in addition to the range of other organizations working in China that have documented the stories of those arrested and tortured.

Interestingly, the origins of the current human rights crisis can be traced to the Qing Dynasty. The petitioning system was established in the Qing Dynasty in order to allow civilians to petition to their local governments regarding any injustice they believed had occurred. Today if an individual is not satisfied with the local government's verdict, the petition can be brought to the next rung in the judicial hierarchy. Eventually, some cases are taken to Beijing, in which the State Bureau for Letters and Visits provides the ultimate ruling. It is important to note that this system is utilized primarily by rural citizens in China. Oftentimes people are compelled to leave their home and travel to Beijing for a state verdict because of the corruption, injustice, and indifference by the local and provincial governments. In an ideal situation, local and provincial officials would not be presented with any petitions, and therefore peasants would not be flocking to Beijing to report their cases. However implausible or idealistic this scenario is, the state government actively wishes to be completely disengaged from participating in the resolution of petitions. Local and provincial governments are not supposed to allow petitions to be brought to the state level because the state does not want "undesirables" (i.e., mostly rural peasants traveling to the capital without any money) The state associates beggars with petitioners, and thus the state does not want these people roaming around Beijing while waiting for a petition to be processed. Another perspective is that the local government should be able to solve the issue immediately without prolonging the conflict or placing it into state affairs. In addition, the state pays governmental officials stipends to prevent petitioners from coming to Beijing. This pressure by the state government translates into a perhaps unintentional impetus for the rise of "black jails."

What exactly is a "black jail," though? Local and provincial government officials abduct civilian petitioners, usually off the street, that have come to Beijing. According to Human Rights Watch the security forces then place the citizens in makeshift, haphazard detention facilities inside of state-funded hotels, nursing homes, etc. The detainees vary in age from children to the elderly. The petitioners are held for whatever length of time the detainers choose, which also can range from a month to an extended period of time. The civilians are completely cut off from the outside world and are left to sleep, eat, and experience gruesome conditions, threats, and torture. The mental abuse inflicted is tremendous for obvious reasons. The physical abuse involves rape and beatings; what is devastating is that many of the detainees fall ill due to this maltreatment but are denied any medical care.

This is only a snapshot of the horrors these petitioners experience. The most disturbing aspect of the entire process is alluded to in the title of the report by Human Rights Watch, "An Alleyway to Hell." The title implies that the petitioning system is the "alleyway" that leads to "black jails" which are the equivalent of Hell. Another interesting analogy mentioned in the report is drinking poison to quench thirst. These people are being persecuted because they are doing exactly what their government has told them to do! It is an absolutely ludicrous contradiction that, in my eyes, delegitimizes the Chinese government. "Black jails" are a grave injustice. For more information, and to read "An Alleyway to Hell," please visit http://www.hrw.org.