Posts Tagged ‘China’
February 29, 2016
A regional update on Asia is based on a submission to United Nations’ Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (15 February) and a report of the Regional Consultation of Citizens’ Voices held in Kathmandu (25/26 February) held under the aegis of South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR).
The Asian Legal Resource Centre directs the attention of the Human Rights Council to the critical situation of human rights defenders in China, Bangladesh, and Thailand, who are facing dire threats to their person and profession: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, OMCT, UN | 1 Comment »
Tags: Adilur Rahman Khan, Asian Legal Resource Centre, Bangladesh, Basil Fernando, China, Geneva, Gerald Staberock, Ghazi Salahuddin, Hameeda Hossain, India, Nepal, Pakistan, side event, South Asians for Human Rights, Thailand
February 25, 2016
The UN Human Rights Council will hold its 31st regular session at Palais des Nations in Geneva from 29 February to 24 March 2016 (it also marks the 10th anniversary of the Human Rights Council). The International Service for Human Rights (see link at the bottom of the post) has published an Alert full of details, but I highlight here the elements that concern human rights defenders most directly:
Human rights defenders: The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst, will present his annual report to the Council on 3 March. The report focuses on good practices to promote and protect the rights of human rights defenders. Presentation of the report will be followed by a dialogue. Of significance this session is a substantive resolution that will be presented by Norway on the situation of human rights defenders. The resolution at this session of the Council follows on the heels of the resolution on human rights defenders presented at the General Assembly in November 2015. The General Assembly resolution included a number of new, important and substantive provisions, including on the vital role of advocacy and the work of defenders in contributing to sustainable development and the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights, and the responsibilities of business enterprises with respect to engaging, consulting and protecting defenders. [see also: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/12/18/un-general-assembly-adopts-resolution-on-human-rights-defenders-with-increased-majority/] This latest resolution provides an opportunity to recognise the critically important work of economic, social and cultural rights defenders, and the cross-cutting challenges they face, including restrictions not only on their rights to health, food, housing, social security and work, but also on their rights to freedom of expression, association, assembly and life itself. Economic, social and cultural rights activists have been identified by current and previous Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights defenders as among the most isolated and stigmatised defenders. It is integral that the resolution recognises the role of both State and non-State actors in the protection of human rights defenders, and enjoys broad State support for strong language demanding their protection. (On 7 March, ISHR will facilitate a side event on this topic which will be the subject of a separate post) Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, OHCHR, UN | 1 Comment »
Tags: Burundi, China, draft resolution, freedom of assembly, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, Michel Forst, Myanmar, Norway, reprisals, side event, social economic and cultural rights, UN General Assembly, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Human Rights Council, UN Special Rapporteurs, UPR
February 19, 2016
In Foreign Policy’s China File of 18 February 2016 there are 3 contributions worth reading about whether the increased repression under Xi Jinping (disappearances, detention of human rights lawyers, televised confessions, and stepped-up surveillance) is the ‘new normal’?
Source: China’s New Age of Fear | Foreign Policy
Posted in books, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: China, Eva Pils, Foreign Policy, Foreign Policy of the USA, Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyers, Isabel Hilton, repression, Taisu Zhang, Xi Jinping
February 12, 2016
On 7 February 2016, Big News Network carried a profile of Cao Shunli, the Chinese human rights defender who died in custody on 14 March 2014. It starts with a beautiful quote of Cao Shunli (in an article on the China Change website on The Life and Death of Cao Shunli: “I was so saddened. I thought: you [China] are such a big government, but you do this to one individual. I don’t understand it.”
I have blogged enough on Cao Shunli [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/cao-shunli/] skip her life story here but the profile is worth reading for those who want to know more about this remarkable woman. Cao was a final nominee for the Martin Ennals Award 2014, for which True Heroes Films (THF) produced a moving video about her work that includes footage of the Chinese quashing of the motion of silence at the UN. [see: http://www.martinennalsaward.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=248&Itemid=161&lang=en]
The article does not refer to the establishment of the annual Cao Shunli Memorial Award for Human Rights Defenders. On 9 March 2015 Three rights groups launched the award in honor of Cao Shunli: Human Rights Campaign in China, Civil Rights & Livelihood Watch, and Rights Defense Network. The award is handed out on March 14, to mark the day Cao Shunli passed away. The recipient will be awarded funding to conduct human rights initiatives, especially “to push for civil society participation in international human rights activities” and to monitor the Chinese government’s implementation of its human rights obligations. In a joint announcement, the three NGOs said that the award will “commemorate Ms. Cao Shunli, so her life’s story will inspire generations to come.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA, THF | 5 Comments »
Tags: Cao Shunli, Cao Shunli Memorial Award for Human Rights Defenders, China, China Change website, human rights award, Human Rights Defenders, MEA final nominee 2014, profiles, THF, UPR, woman human rights defender, Zhou Weilin
January 26, 2016
After more than 20 days of detention and a public confession that sounded forced, Swedish human defender Peter Dahlin has been expelled from China, and is on his way home. The Chinese foreign ministry and Swedish embassy in Beijing confirmed Peter Dahlin, 35, had been released from detention and expelled from the country on Monday 15 January 2016.
[What Dahlin actually admitted to in his televised confession, and what a voice-over in Chinese said he had admitted to, were two very different things, as Quartz reported earlier. Discrepancies included his alleged “funding” of Chinese activists (Dahlin said “support” in his confession, which was in English), and an accusation that he had embezzled money from foreign NGOs, which Dahlin never admitted to.] https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2016/01/21/confessions-abound-on-chinese-television-first-gui-minhai-and-now-peter-dahlin/
Another Swedish citizen, Hong Kong-based bookseller Gui Minhai, remains in custody in Beijing after his suspected abduction from Thailand by Chinese authorities. Swedish officials are “very concerned about the detained Swedish citizen Gui Minhai. Our efforts to bring clarity to his situation and be granted the opportunity to visit him continue with unabated intensity,” the Swedish embassy said in its statement.
Source: Human rights activist Peter Dahlin has been expelled from China, and is headed home to Sweden – Quartz
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: China, crackdown, expulsion, foreign funding, Gui Minhai, Human Rights Defenders, NGOs, Peter Dahlin, Quartz, release, Sweden
January 21, 2016
Peter Dahlin appears on China state TV for his confession. CCTV/Twitter/Tom Phillips
The Hong Kong bookseller Gui Minhai, after being kidnapped by Chinese security services, made a confession on CCTV earlier this week. Now also Peter Dahlin a Swede working for a NGO [CUAWG] in China has made a “scripted” television confession following his detention earlier this week. [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2016/01/13/the-plight-of-human-rights-defenders-in-china-just-two-weeks-into-the-new-year/] In a TV appearance on the state-run CCTV news channel, Dahlin said: “I violated China’s law through my activities here. I’ve caused harm to the Chinese government. I’ve hurt the feelings of the Chinese people. I apologise sincerely for this and I am very sorry that this ever happened. I have been given good food, plenty of sleep and I have suffered no mistreatments of any kind.”
Cases the CUAWG have worked on include that of Qi Chonghuai, a journalist and writer who was imprisoned for reporting on Communist party corruption, and Tulip Award winner Ni Yulan, a lawyer who opposed illegal demolitions and was beaten, harrased and imprisoned by police.
Source: Peter Dahlin: Swedish human rights law activist detained in China makes a ‘scripted’ confession | Asia | News | The Independent
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 8 Comments »
Tags: bookseller, China, crackdown, CUAWG, detention, forced confession, freedom of association, Gui Minhai, Hong Kong, Ni Yulan, Peter Dahlin, Qi Chonghuai, Tulip award
January 19, 2016
On 18 January 2016 Human Rights Watch published an open Letter from Legal Experts on detained lawyers in China. [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/07/29/the-remarkable-crackdown-on-lawyers-in-china-in-july-2015/]. The letter, reproduced below, tries to link the Chinese leaders to their earlier promises that ‘China is a country ruled by law’ and that ‘every individual Party organisation and Party member must abide by the country’s constitution and laws and must not take the Party’s leadership as a privilege to violate them.’ It concludes that the events described appear entirely contrary to those commitments. The list of signatories is impressive. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Asma Jahangir, Bao Longjun, China, crackdown, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights Watch, illegal detention, judicial harassment, lawyers, Manfred Nowak, Pu Zhiqiang, Wang Yu, William Schabas, Xie Yanyi, Zhou Shifeng
January 13, 2016
Perhaps one should be ‘grateful’ that China on 3 January 2016 decided to detain the Swedish human rights campaigner Peter Dahlin (first foreigner to be detained for ‘endangering state security’) as this helped international media the take note of the extraordinary crackdown by Chinese president Xi Jinping who is now widely considered to be China’s most authoritarian leader in decades. Here a short overview of the most notable cases in the first two weeks of 2016:
Paramilitary guards stand in front of the gates of Sweden’s embassy in Beijing on Wednesday. Photograph: Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty Images
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | 2 Comments »
Tags: Cai Xin, China, crackdown, Deng Xiaoming, detention, Fengrui (law firm), Front Line (NGO), Gui Minhai, He Xiaobo, Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyers, Meng Han, Peter Dahlin, Shu Xiangxin, Sweden, Wang Qiushi, Wang Yu, Zeng Feiyang, Zhou Shifeng, Zhu Xiaomei
January 12, 2016
The ISHR on 3 December 2015 carried a profile on Sharon Hom, human rights defender working on human rights in China.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR | Leave a Comment »
Tags: China, Civil society, Hong Kong, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights in China (HRIC), human rights mechanisms, international cooperation, profiles, Sharon Hom, teaching, treaty bodies, UPR, woman human rights defender
January 7, 2016
On 6 and 7 January 2016, human rights lawyers Mr Sui Muqing and Mr Huang Liqun in China were released from police custody reports Front Line Defenders on 7 January. The two human rights defenders were detained on 10 July 2015 in the midst of a nationwide crackdown on human rights lawyers [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/07/29/the-remarkable-crackdown-on-lawyers-in-china-in-july-2015/] and placed under ‘residential surveillance at a designated location‘. Article 73 of the Criminal Procedure Law allows for the detention of suspects in state security, terrorism and serious bribery cases for up to six months in undisclosed locations, under the guise of ‘residential surveillance’. The authorities are not obliged to specify the place of detention or notify the suspect’s relatives or legal representative of the reasons for the residential surveillance in cases relating to the three charges, if doing so may “interfere with the investigation”. Neither of the human rights defenders were permitted access to lawyers during their six months’ detention. https://frontlinedefenders.org/node/29112
(Sui Muqing is a Guangzhou-based human rights lawyer who has represented a number of other human rights defenders, including Guo Feixiong, and has suffered harassment, intimidation and travel bans as a result of his work. Huang Liqun is a human rights lawyer with Beijing Fengrui Law Firm, a firm specifically targeted by the authorities in Beijing. Six other lawyers with the firm remain in detention).
Up to 20 other human rights defenders in the July crackdown are still in detention.
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: China, crackdown, Fengrui (law firm), Front Line Defenders, House arrest, Huang Liqun, Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyers, illegal detention, Sui Muqing
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 