share information on human rights defenders, with special focus on human rights awards and laureates
A short documentary about the five winners of the Human Rights Tulip Award, the award of the Dutch government for human rights defenders. The winners are from Honduras, Congo, Iran, China and India. The films were done by the True Heroes Foundation (THF).
Most of you are aware that a group of 134 Nobel laureates wrote to Chinese Communist Party chief and future president, Xi Jinping, urging him to release Liu, who won the peace prize two years ago (and to release his wife). China of course maintains that Liu is a criminal and decries such criticism as unwarranted interference in its internal affairs. Remarkable is that Mo, the first Chinese national to win the $1.2 million literature prize – in Stockholm to receive the award – refused to express support for Liu, and defended censorship as sometimes necessary, comparing it to security checks at airports. “I have said this prize is about literature. Not for politics,” said the 57-year-old whose adopted pen name Mo Yan means “don’t speak”[!!].
Now the latest twist according to the Financial Times of 6 December 2012 is that China has excluded Norway – as the only European country – from its visa-free regime for visitors. When asked why Norway was left off the list, Wang Qin, a senior official at the Beijing government travel administration, did not respond directly but said that some countries were not eligible because their citizens or government were “of low-quality” and “badly behaved”.
Chinese-Norwegian ties have been in diplomatic deep freeze ever since imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Immediately afterwards, Beijing suspended negotiations with Oslo over a bilateral free trade agreement and those talks have not yet resumed in spite of the fact that the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by a committee of five individuals appointed by the Norwegian parliament and that Government has no say in the selection (although it is true that committee members always are Norwegian nationals). China has refused visas to many Norwegian journalists, scientists and businesspeople and cancelled numerous political and diplomatic meetings. According to the same FT article earlier this year senior Chinese diplomats insisted Norway must “recognise its mistakes and take steps to correct them” and Norwegian exports have been affected.
The continued harsh treatment of Norway is a signal that when it comes to human rights China remains extra-ordinarily sensitive. One can only hope that the other (European) will show that they will be not intimidated and show solidarity with Norway e.g. by refusing the visa free offer unless Norway is included.
On 19 November 2012, human rights defender and poet Mr Li Bifeng was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment by Shehong County People’s Court in Sichuan province on charges of ‘contract fraud’. Li Bifeng has previously served two terms in prison on account of his activities in defence of human rights. It is believed he has been targeted because of his association with fellow human rights defender and writer Mr Liao Yiwu, who fled China in 2011. The charges of ‘contract fraud’, which have been described as groundless by Li Bifeng’s lawyers, reportedly relate to a property transaction with an alcohol company whereby Li Bifeng, as a businessman, undertook to sell apartments on Hainan Island. According to his wife, Ms Jiang Xia, once the apartments were sold, he was sued by the company for fraud. The company claims that it is owed two million yuan as a result of the sales agreement.
Li Bifeng is a close friend of Liao Yiwu who secretly fled China in 2011 after being denied an exit visa 17 times. Liao Yiwu, now based in Germany, reports that Li Bifeng was targeted because the Chinese authorities believe he provided the financial support that made possible Liao Yiwu’s escape from China, which Liao Yiwu has denied. Li Bifeng was detained on 12 September 2011, two months after Liao Yiwu went into exile in Germany.
Elisa Massimino, President and CEO of New York based Human Rights First describes the scene as follows:
It was the most striking moment of our annual Human Rights Dinner, one that was shown on TV and across the Internet: Chen Guangcheng, in tears, embracing actor Christian Bale. Last year when Chen was under house arrest in China, authorities rebuffed Bale when he tried to visit the “barefoot lawyer.” The two met for the first time—with a hug—when Bale presented Chen with our Human Rights Award.
What gave this moment its power was Chen’s story: his teaching himself the law so that he could help others; his courage in the face of repeated persecution; his heroic journey from house arrest to the American embassy.
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His story is ongoing. We gave him the award—and he accepted it—to highlight the need to help public interest lawyers and other persecuted Chinese citizens. They include his nephew, Chen Kegui, who—after defending himself and his family when government thugs broke into their home—was charged with a crime and imprisoned. “This award,” Chen said in his speech, “for me and for my colleagues, is an example of the waves building and gathering power. Together, we are the rising tide of kindness, decency and respect for the rule of law.”
While the dinner is an occasion for us to honor activists and others who have contributed to the struggle for human rights, it is also a chance for our organization to renew our commitment to challenging the United States to live up to its ideals. As Chen said, “My hope is that all of us, as we go forward, will make human rights a priority.”
I think it shows the power of awards
With all the attention now focussed on Chen Guangcheng, the blind legal activist, this article of 21 May by Peter Ford, staff writer at the CSM, is most welcome. It describes the extremely difficult circumstances under which lawyers and legal activists have to work, explaining the difference between the two categories. It starts with describing the case of Jiang Tianyong, who went to visit his friend Chen Guangcheng, soon after he had emerged from the US embassy.
Last year, as authorities cracked down on lawyers in the wake of the Arab Spring, Jiang “disappeared” for two months. He was “taken to some secret places, beaten, criticized, and brainwashed” by police officers, he recalls. Landlords have bowed to official pressure and evicted him five times from different homes, Jiang says. He has been subjected to several periods of house arrest; his wife and children have been harassed; guards have sealed his front door shut; and once, in a particularly petty act, they locked his wife’s bicycle, he says. And he lost his license to practice law in 2009.
“Human rights lawyers face a perilous life in China,” says John Kamm, a human rights activist who heads Duihua, which works on behalf of political prisoners in China. “They face many barriers.”
When lawyers are beaten, “disappeared,” or jailed, their plight generally attracts wide attention. Far more often, though, says Wang Songlian, a researcher with the Hong Kong based China Human Rights Defenders, it is “unqualified” legal advocates – such as Chen – who are abused for taking cases the government regards as sensitive. “There are probably dozens of them in jail, most of whom are not well known,” she says.
Qualified lawyer’s status gives them a measure of protection, but they are vulnerable to all kinds of official pressure. Crucially, they are obliged to renew their licenses with their local bar association each year – a hurdle Jiang failed to surmount in 2009. This means most lawyers pay attention when the Justice Ministry or the bar association issues “guidance” or “opinions” that they do not take sensitive cases, or that they handle them in a certain way, says Eva Pils, a legal expert at the Centre for Rights and Justice at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
If they don’t, she says, the authorities often warn the head of a recalcitrant lawyer’s firm that his business risks trouble. “At the point when it is felt that neither the Ministry of Justice nor the bar association nor a lawyer’s firm can control him, the security apparatus gets involved,” Professor Pils says.
Human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang says that “99 percent of lawyers will be affected by this sort of pressure.” He adds, “There is no organization in China supporting lawyers doing pro bono work, so very few will take it on because of all the trouble it gets you in.” The pressure on lawyers has been mounting for several years, says Pils, amid “fears that the [ruling Communist] Party might lose control over lawyers, who are not oriented to upholding party rule, but toward working for clients.”
In 2008, the judicial authorities proclaimed the “Three Supremes” doctrine, according to which judges were told to uphold the cause of the Communist Party, the interests of the people, and the Constitution and the law, in that order. Earlier this year, the Justice Ministry published a regulation requiring newly licensed lawyers to swear an oath of loyalty to the party. Despite the difficulties he and his colleagues face, Pu is optimistic. “Though the authorities would like to control the situation, society is getting more open, and I think it will continue to do so,” he says.
Twenty years ago, Mr. Kamm says, “there was no such thing as a [human] rights defender in China. Now we have a very different situation. Nothing encourages anyone to take on a human rights case, but the fact that there are people doing it is tremendously heartening.”
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In my latest post I referred to the this video which is now available on: http://www.facebook.com/pages/True-Heroes-Films/270725636332332
The christian group that nominated Ms Ni Yulan reported on the ceremony as follows:
“Tulip Prize Jury Emphasizes Human Rights over Economic Interests By Jeremy Reynalds
SURREY, ENGLAND — At an official ceremony to award the Dutch Government’s Human Rights Defenders Tulip Prize for 2011 to Chinese legal activist Ni Yulan, the chair of the jury stressed the importance of highlighting China’s human rights record in spite of economic considerations. According to a news release from Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Cisca Dresselhuys, Chair of the Human Rights Defenders Tulip Award 2011 Jury said, “Economic interests must never be a reason to close our mouths on human rights. We should rather have one Human Rights Tulip Award than one exported tulip to China.” CSW said that Ni Yulan was unable to attend the ceremony due to her detention in Beijing, and her daughter, Dong Xuan, was recently banned from leaving China to accept the prize on her mother’s behalf. Ni Yulan was nominated for the Tulip Award by CSW and China Aid. Her work as a housing rights activist, defending Beijing residents whose homes were demolished to make way for the 2008 Olympics, resulted in her being imprisoned on several occasions.
CSW said she has also worked on a number of high-profile religious freedom cases. Ni Yulan is in a wheelchair due to beatings received in prison, which left her unable to walk and in poor health. She was put on trial with her husband in Beijing in Dec. 2011 for “creating a disturbance,” and testified evidence from a hospital bed while on oxygen. The trial did not reach a verdict and the couple remain detained in Beijing. ….
CSW said Dresselhuys added, “We give the award with pleasure, reverence and joy, but with immense pain in our hearts because she cannot be here.”
A video of Ni Yulan’s life and work [produced by True Heroes, films for HRDS, I may add]was shown at the ceremony, in which she is seen in her wheelchair living in a tent in a park. She says, “In this difficult time the support from others really encourages us. It keeps us alive. I will continue to defend others’ rights. We cannot give up.”
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is a Christian organisation working for religious freedom through advocacy and human rights, in the pursuit of justice. For further information, go to www.csw.org.uk.
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced today – 22 December – that the annual award for HRDs, the Tulip, has been awarded to the Chinese human rights activist Ni Yulan. The announcement of the award was delayed several weeks at the request of Ms Ni’s family in the interest of her safety. The activist is currently in custody awaiting trial. The Human Rights Defenders Tulip is awarded annually to someone who has made an extraordinary contribution to protecting and promoting human rights.
interesting video of (part of the) session of the European Parliament
Conditions for Chinas Rights Defenders Worsens: Hearing – YouTube.
New Tang Dynasty Television
Tiananmen Commemoration Highlights Modern Rights Defenders 22 years later. Victims and witnesses of the 1989 TiananmenMassacre shared the way they saw and experienced the demonstrations, the massacre, and the long-term effect it has had on the Chinese psyche at a commemoration held by the Visual Arts Guild. Two contemporary rights defenders, Ai Weiwei and Zhao Lianhai, both currently detained in China, were honored at the event.
One of those recognized was Ai Weiwei. The world-renowned artist/activist is currently detained by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for his political expressions, which include a recent video (Without Fear or Favor by Ai Weiwei on TED). Zhao Lianhai was also recognized for his efforts in bringing to light the melamine-tainted milk scandal in 2008. Zhao was sentenced by the CCP to 2 1/2 years in prison after he set up a website, Kidney Stone Babies, to advise parents of the toxic milk after his own child suffered from kidney illness from the tainted dairy. He was released on medical parole last December, then again taken into custody on May 26, apparently because of his public demand for the release of Ai Weiwei that same week.
The keynote speaker, Perry Link, a professor of Comparative Literature and Foreign Languages at UC Riverside, is one of the West’s top experts on China, its language, culture, and people. His report on how China is good at “forgetting” massacres and how also the media quickly lose interest in worth reading in full on http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/united-states/tiananmen-commemoration-highlights-modern-rights-defenders-57592.html
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 