Description:Harsh Punishments in the Context of theInternational Covenant on Civil and PoliticalRightsThis book is designed to introduce law students, legal actors and human rightsactivists, particularly frequent or potential participants in human rights dialogueswith China, to the process and reality of a newly confident China’s participation inthe international human rights system, albeit with inherent challenges. It has itsorigins in my Ph.D. thesis, which was fi rst written between 2004 and 2006 at theUniversity of Durham, in the UK, and then revised in 2012 and 2013 during my visitto the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, in Canada. My study of severe punishmentsin China and their relation to China’s commitments under the InternationalCovenant on Civil and Political Rights ( ICCPR ) is the result of long-term research,over the course of which I have had several homes.