E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.6 page 25 Appendix 1 Notes 1 The visit of the Special Rapporteur on Torture to PRC has its origins in a 1995 request by the then Special Rapporteur, Sir Nigel Rodley, for an invitation to carry out a fact-finding mission. The Government responded in 1999 with an invitation for a “friendly visit” in May 2000, however, differences between the Government and the Special Rapporteur on the standard methodology for country visits by United Nations human rights experts (including unannounced visits to detention centres and private meetings with detainees) prevented it from being realized. In spring 2004, the Government extended an unconditional invitation to the then Special Rapporteur, Theo van Boven, for a two-week visit in June of that year, which was later postponed. Upon Manfred Nowak’s appointment as Special Rapporteur on Torture in December 2004, the Government renewed its invitation for a visit in 2005, accepting his Terms of Reference. 2 For instance, see the cases of Gao Zhisheng, Mao Hengfeng, Liu Xinjian, Ma Yalian and Li Shan Na in Appendix 3. 3 China is party to and has submitted reports under each of the following international human rights treaties: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions are also both bound by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR), which the PRC signed in October 1998. 4 According to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, “The Constitution has been complemented by a provision granting constitutional rank to the protection of human rights. On 14 March 2004, the NPC amended the constitution to add the provisions.” “The State respects and safeguards human rights,” providing for the first time in its history a constitutional protection of human rights” Report of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Mission to China, E/CN.4/2005/6/Add.4, §19 (c). In written comments to the preliminary report of the Special Rapporteur the Chinese authorities, on 25 January 2006, stated the following “This is a step forward in giving the protection of human rights a prominent place in China’s legislation and national development strategy.” 5 The following information was provided to the Special Rapporteur in written comments from the PRC on 25 January 2006: “In order to implement this constitutional principle, China has adopted a series of reform measures in the legislative area. At present, China’s legislative departments are in the process of accelerating reform of the criminal, civil, and administrative procedure laws in order to improve judicial redress measures, highlight the role of lawyers, and protect the rights of suspects. Since reform of the reeducation through labor system was formally included in the five-year legislative plan of the new National People’s Congress in 2003, China’s relevant departments have been carrying out their work according to schedule and at present work on the first draft of the new ‘Illegal Behavior Correction Law’ has been