Posts Tagged ‘China’
November 9, 2013
The Hong Kong Refugee Advice Centre launched the Human Rights Arts prizes in an effort to show the work of young artists, while recognising the role of art in raising awareness of and defending human rights. The Emerging and the Community winners were chosen by judges working in the human rights field, while the staff from the centre chose two further winners, dubbed the Choice awards.
Works depicting the hardships of mainland immigrants and African refugees won two top awards (Elva Lai Ming-Chu won in the Emerging Artist category and photograper Alvin Fung Tsz Chung won the Community Artist prize). Artist Lo Chi-kit won a Choice award for his piece Under the Shadow, which he dedicated to detained, imprisoned and exiled human rights activists on the mainland. “Chi-kits work highlights the persecution and oppression that human rights defenders face around the world – sometimes to the point of being forced to flee their countries” Miller said.
via Crusading Hong Kong artists awarded inaugural Human Rights Art Prizes | South China Morning Post.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: art, awareness raising, China, Hong Kong, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human Rights Arts, images, Lo Chi-kit, photo exhibit, refugees, South China Morning Post, The Hong Kong Refugee Advice Centre
October 31, 2013
reports that on 30 October human rights lawyer, Ms Wang Yu, was finally permitted access to Chaoyang Detention Centre in Beijing in order to see Cao Shunli, who had reportedly been detained since 14 September 2013.
Wang Yu reported that Cao Shunli is extremely thin and has not received any medical attention in the detention centre. According to Wang Yu, Cao Shunli has been detained on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”.
[On 14 September 2013, two security agents prevented Cao Shunli from boarding a flight from Beijing Capital Airport to Geneva. She was flying to take part in a training on UN mechanisms]
[In the months leading up to China’s Univeral Period Review (UPR) on 22 October 2013, Cao Shunli had been campaigning for greater civil society involvement in the UPR process]
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Beijing, Cao Shunli, China, detention centre, freedom of expression, Front Line Defenders, Geneva, ill treatment, illegal detention, United Nations, UPR, Wang Yu, woman human rights defender
October 26, 2013
Two hundred and eighteen human rights defenders in Shanghai signed a public appeal urging the United Nations not to elect China to the 47-member Human Rights Council. The election will be held on 12 November in the General Assembly.
China is one of the five candidates for the four seats to be filled by Asia-Pacific states. The other candidates are Jordan, Maldives, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam. Among the voluntary pledges made by China for its membership are: “To continue to strengthen the development of democracy and the rule of law [and] push forward the reform of the judicial system.” The appeal is dated October 21, 2013, the day before China’s Universal Periodic Review at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Below are copies of the original signature sheets. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: boycott, China, elections, Geneva, human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, Human rights in China, Shanghai, the United Nations, United Nations, United Nations Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review
October 23, 2013
On 22 October the BBC and others reported that many member states of the UN Human Rights Council expressed concern at the arrest of dissidents, the continued use of the death penalty and the use of torture in prison, but Chinese officials maintained major progress had been made in improving social and economic rights. Julie de Rivero, of Human Rights Watch, told the BBC that China’s focus on economic progress was a way of avoiding the real issues: “The question is why does China continue to torture people in prisons and why is it systematic? Why do they not allow human rights defenders to raise questions that party members are even raising, about corruption? When it comes from the mouth of a human rights defender it earns them a place in prison”. Members of the UN panel also expressed concern about the treatment of a number of Chinese human rights activists in recent weeks.
(Activists from Students for a Free Tibet defied security to display a banner
on scaffolding in front of the United Nations (via BBC))
Under the UPR system, all UN member states undergo the review by the UN once every four years. [The UN panel – with a rotating membership of 47 states that does not currently include China – has no binding powers.] The report on China is expected later this week.
via BBC News – UN criticises Chinas rights record at Geneva meeting.
Posted in HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: BBC, China, corruption, freedom of expression, Geneva, HRW, human rights, human rights activists, Human Rights Defenders, Human rights in China, Human Rights Watch, reprisals, UN Human Rights Council, United Nations, United Nations Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review, UPR
October 23, 2013
Although extreme right-wing media and NGOs who are basically against the UN should not be given more airing than they deserve, one has to admit that the UN makes it sometimes very easy for them to portray it as out of touch with reality. The following excerpt from FrontPage Magazine shows why:
“Today’s United Nations punchline has been brought to you by billions of your tax dollars. It’s your money. You deserve a good laugh. As the UN Human Rights Council [the UPR] scrutinized Saudi Arabia’s domestic rights record this morning… out of 95 countries who took the floor, 82 praised Saudi Arabia. Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based human rights group UN Watch, said the country is poised to win a seat on the Human Rights Council. “A country whose legal system routinely lashes women rape victims rather than punish the perpetrators should not have been praised effusively by members of the UN’s top human rights body,” said Neuer. “Instead the world should have addressed the Saudi regime’s use of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments, such as flogging, amputations and eye-gouging.” But look at who lined up to praise Saudi human rights.
Afghanistan: “We commend Saudia Arabia as they continue to enhance the protection and promotion of human rights…”
Palestine: “We take notice of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to protect and promote human rights…”
Somalia: “Saudi Arabia maintains a high priority for protection and promotion of human rights…”
Libya: “Saudi Arabia continues to strengthen human rights and promote them and this deserves our appreciation…”
Mauritania: “We commend Saudi Arabia for always seeking to strengthen human rights…We commend Saudi Arabia in terms of the progress on guaranteeing fundamental rights and freedoms, socioeconomic progress, participation of women at all levels and participation in society.
China: “We appreciate efforts made to protect the rights of children and to have dialogues of religious tolerance…”
Pakistan: commended “laudable steps taken by Saudi Arabia to promote and protect the rights of children and women…”
The procedure of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) has indeed in-built idiocies like these. On the other hand there is also criticism possible (which was not reported here, of course, see Voice of America link below), while big countries like China, Russia, India and the US, who are otherwise not often subject of public discussion in the UN human rights proceedings, now get their turn as shown in the reports on the current consideration of China in the UPR.
via At UN, Pakistan Praises Saudi Arabia for Protecting “Women’s Rights” | FrontPage Magazine.
Posted in human rights, UN | 1 Comment »
Tags: bias, China, FrontPage Magazine, Hillel Neuer, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Saudi Arabia, selectivity, UN Watch, United Nations, United Nations Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review, UPR, Voice of America
October 22, 2013
(c) Bao Fan/ Imaginechina, file Venture capitalist Wang Gongquan is seen in a file photo from December 2009.
Eric Baculinao, NBC News Producer informs us that in a crackdown on dissent ahead of a Communist Party gathering next month, Chinese authorities on Sunday formally arrested a billionaire venture capitalist who has turned his wealth toward supporting human rights issues. The detention of Wang Gongquan, who was held on suspicion of disturbing public order, sends a strong signal that China’s new leadership will not tolerate any member of the rising entrepreneurial elite using their resources to agitate for democratic reform. Gongquan, 52, who made a fortune from real estate and investment management, is one of the first Chinese billionaires to cross a “red line” that forbids the ascendant entrepreneurial class from challenging the Communist party’s supremacy. Wang is known to be a supporter of the New Citizens Movement, a loose association of professionals and other urbanites advocating free speech and other rights enshrined in China’s constitution. The group, which occasionally organizes dinners to discuss national issues, is also calling for greater government transparency and disclosure of officials’ assets. “I admire Wang Gongguan’s integrity and courage, but he might have crossed the ‘red line,’” said Hu Xingdou, referring to the unwritten rule that China’s rising business class should not engage in political activism.
via Chinese billionaire arrested for crossing red line of political activism – Behind The Wall.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: China, Chinese authorities, Chinese billionaire, Communist, Communist Party, Communist Party of China, Gongquan, Hu Xingdou, Human rights defender, NBC News, Public-order crime, repression, Wang Gongquan
October 21, 2013
The New York Times of Monday 20 October carries a post by Chris Buckley which looks at the documentation submitted for today’s UPR session on China and concludes that it seems as if there are two different countries facing scrutiny in Geneva. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in AI, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Amnesty International, China, Chris Buckley, Geneva, Government of the People's Republic of China, Human right, human rights, Human Rights Watch, illegal detention, New York Times, NGOs, reprisals, retaliation, United Nations Human Rights Council, universal human rights, Universal Periodic Review, UPR
October 18, 2013
China’s Second Universal Periodic Review: Challenges and Opportunities on MONDAY 21 October in Room XXV of the Palais des Nations in Geneva 12:30-14:30
FIDH league members will lead an NGO information meeting on key civil society trends and challenges since 2009.
The panel will discuss:
- Civil society’s important role in advancing progress and addressing China’s human rights challenges
- The challenges to fundamental rights and freedoms presented by national security laws
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: China, Civil society, FIDH, Human right, International Federation for Human Rights, NGO, Non-governmental organization, United Nations, United Nations Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review
October 16, 2013
A group of United Nations experts has expressed serious concern at reports that Chinese human rights defenders have suffered reprisals for seeking to participate in a major UN human rights assessment of China. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 5 Comments »
Tags: Cao Shunli, Chen Guangcheng, Chen Jianfang, China, Civil society, Frank LaRue, Geneva, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Human rights in China, illegal detention, Maina Kiai, Margaret Sekaggaya, reprisals, retaliation, UN Special Rapporteur, United Nations, United Nations Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review, UPR, woman human rights defender, Zhao Zhenjia
October 6, 2013
Foto: EPAFinally a tiny bit of good news from the Chinese front: After 2,5 years in jail the Chinese human rights defender Ni Yulan has been freed. In 2011 she won the Dutch Tulip for HRDs award. She has never been able to receive the award in person and even her daughter had not been allowed to leave the country for that purpose.
As reported by the ANP via Chinese mensenrechtenactiviste Ni weer vrij | nu.nl/buitenland | Het laatste nieuws het eerst op nu.nl.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Advocacy Organizations, China, forced evictions, harassment, Human Rights and Liberties, human rights awards, Human Rights Defenders, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Netherlands, Netherlands, Ni Yulan, prison, the Chinese human rights, Tulip award, woman human rights defender, Yulan
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 