As a participant in the United Nations campaign for the promotion and protection
of human rights, China signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
4
The
Declaration, signed by China in 1945, was established as a set of goals for countries to
strive toward in the hope of bringing about peace, equality, and freedom to all people.
5
The countries that sign the declaration are publicly supporting the cause of equality,
freedom, and the right to the preservation and promotion of human rights. It is
reasonable for people to believe that if a country signs such a declaration that they are
willing to make changes for the betterment of their people. Yet China has violated the
human rights of women through the enforcement of the one child policy for over twenty
years. It is as if China has overlooked its participation of the goals set forth in the
declaration. As stated in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
countries that have signed the treaty agree to the following:
[…] a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end
that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration
constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for
these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international,
to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the
peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under
their jurisdiction (see appendix for full text language of the United Nations
Universal Declaration of Human Rights).
6
China’s one child policy, although seen by many as needed due to China’s
inability to sustain such an enormous population, is responsible for greatly reducing the
number of births in China.
7
The coercive measures to meet the government’s quota in an
effort to decrease the population has been ignored or labeled as an issue of birth control.
The policy should not be viewed as only an issue of birth control or population control
but an issue of violence and torture against women. From forced abortions, sterilization,
kidnappings, beatings, coercion, and confinement the women in China fall under the
3
Convention