RSDL Resources
Legal name: Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (or Place); RSDL; and in Chinese, 指定居所监视居住 Well-known victims: Ai Weiwei, Gao Zhisheng, Liu Xiaobo, Wang Yu, the Hong Kong booksellers, Peter Dahlin, Lee Ming-che Related human rights issues: Torture, threats to family, denial of access to lawyer, forced medication, sleep and food deprivation, delayed sentencing, forced confessions pre-trial and at trial, secret trial, delayed trial, and non-release release
Legal
- RSDL in Chinese law (articles 72 to 77 are relevant): ChinaLawTranslate,: Criminal Procedure Law (2012), 8 April 2013
- Oversight of RSDL in Chinese law: ChinaLawTranslate: Provisions on People’s Procuratorates' Oversight of Residential Surveillance in a Designated Location, 14 July 2016
- Enforced disappearances in international law: United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner:International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances
- Elizabeth M Lynch: China Law & Policy: Codifying Illegality? The Case of Jiang Tianyong, 20 January 2017
- Jerome Cohen: Jerry's Blog:Disappearance of Chinese human rights lawyer: what it means to be placed under “residential surveillance” in China, 26 December 2016
- Margaret K. Lewis: China Law and Policy:Who Will Be Watched: Margaret K. Lewis on China’s New CPL & Residential Surveillance , 25 September 2015
General
- Does China’s New Detention Law Matter, China Digital Times, 13 March 2013
- What You Need to Know About China’s ‘Residential Surveillance at a Designated Place’, Yaqiu Wang, Chinachange, 2 August 2015
- New Type of Detention Marks China’s Intensifying Crackdown on Civil Society, Jojje Olsson, Taiwan Sentinel, 15 May 2017
- Residential Surveillance at a Designated Place, Wikipedia
- Arrested, Detained: A Guide to Navigating China’s Police Powers, Stanley Lubman, Wall Street Journal, 12 August 2014
Human rights reviews & reports
- Congressional-Executive Commission on China annual reports, 2016 and 2017 include dedicated sections on RSDL under Criminal Justice chapter
- Prevention of Torture: concerns with the use of 'residential confinement in a designated residence', report by the Rights Practice in relation to the fifth periodic report from China, submitted to the Committee Against Torture, 56 Session, Sep- Dec 2015
Victim stories
- CHRD update on arbitrary detention and torture of Chinese lawyer Xie Yang, China Human Rights Defenders, 20 February 2017
- China lawyer recounts torture under Xi's 'war on law', John Sudworth, BBC, 26 October 2017
- The disappeared: Accounts from inside China's secret prisons, Chieu Luu and Matt Rivers, CNN, 27 November 2017
Commentary
- Legalizing the Tools of Repression, Nicholas Bequelin, The New York Times, 29 February 2012
- China’s secret detention of lawyers threatens the rule of law, William Nee, Hong Kong Free Press, 29 September 2015
- The People's Republic of the Disappeared, Michael Caster, The Diplomat, 6 December 2015
Books
- The People's Republic of the Disappeared: Stories from inside China's system for enforced disappearances, Michael Caster (Ed.), Safeguard Defenders, 14 November 2017.
United Nations Treaties and Bodies
A number of UN treaties and their associated bodies (with which complaints can be filed) cover the human rights violations associated with RSDL. They are:
- International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances (ICPED); associated body the Committee on Enforced Disappearances
China status: not a signatory
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR); associated body the Human Rights Committee
China status: signed, but not ratified
- Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; associated body the Committee Against Torture
China status: ratified.