The People’s Republic of the Disappeared: Stories from inside China’s system for enforced disappearances

"A set of unique, insider accounts into one of the most secretive prison systems in the world. If you've ever wondered what the rise of China means for human rights around the world, this book has the answer." "You are now under Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location. Your only right is to obey!" With these words, Chinese human rights lawyer Xie Yang was introduced to the horrors of "Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location" (RSDL), a brutal custodial system where victims are subjected to incommunicado and isolated detention, torture, and forced medication, often for six months or longer. This book gives voice to China's victims who, in their own harrowing words, describe the violent and dehumanizing reality of being disappeared in a system that now spans the whole of China. It present, for the first time, an in-depth analysis of the domestic legal framework China uses to disappear and torture its citizens, and how it violates fundamental international law. This second edition explores changes to both the RSDL system, while importantly presenting the first overview of the full ecosystem for disappearances that China has been developing since the release of the first edition. From enforced disappearances in mass concentration camps for Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, to the National Security Commission that targets anyone suspected of violating Party discipline using its liuzhi system, to disappearing people when inside detention centers awaiting trial, to disappearing those supposedly released from bail or prison, often using state-run hotels and guesthouses, to ad-hoc kidnappings. As China battles with the west to export its system of governance, understanding the breakdown of its fledging system of laws, its embrace of practices that violate fundamental international human rights, becomes ever more important. With China aggressively pushing for police and extradition cooperation across the globe, fears over an extradition bill which have sparked mass demonstrations in Hong Kong for example, understanding the role of the police and China's highly abusive systems for arbitrary and secret coercive custody is paramount.