The Most Absurd Human Rights Violations (47): Great Firewall of China Untestable Because of Great Firewall of China

(source)

I’ve talked before about the so-called catch 22 of human rights measurement. In order to measure whether countries respect human rights, there has to be already some level of respect for human rights. Organizations, whether international organizations or private organizations (NGOs, newspapers etc.), must have some freedom to control, to engage in fact finding, to enter countries and move around, to investigate “in situ”, to denounce etc. Victims should have the freedom to speak out and to organize themselves in pressure groups. So we assume what we want to establish.

In this example, the level of respect for human rights is so low that it’s impossible to measure this level.

More on human rights measurement, on the Great Firewall, on censorship in general and on freedom of expression. More on human rights and China in general. More absurd human rights violations.