Join CHRD’s “Free 10 by 12/10” Campaign in Run-up to International Human Rights Day
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Dear Friends, Supporters, and Partners:
To mark this year’s International Human Rights Day, we invite you to join CHRD’s “Free 10 by 12/10” Campaign for the release of 10 human rights defenders who have been detained or imprisoned in China. Each day from December 1 through to Human Rights Day on December 10, we will feature one of the 10 HRDs via our Twitter and Facebook accounts, with links to our website profiles on their personal backgrounds, human rights advocacy work, and government reprisals against them. CHRD encourages you to join our call for the release of these and other prisoners of conscience, and spread the message to your contacts and online communities.
With this campaign, CHRD’s broader goal is to advocate for the release of all individuals who have been detained or imprisoned by the Chinese government for exercising their own rights and defending the rights of others, particularly through acts of assembly, association, and expression.
The 10 are:
- Lawyer Pu Zhiqiang (浦志强) in detention since May 2013 for free expression
- Lawyer Wang Yu (王宇) forcibly disappeared since July 2015 for defending others
- Activist Su Changlan (苏昌兰) in detention since October 2014 for free expression
- Activist Guo Feixiong (郭飞雄) sentenced to 6 years for free assembly and association
- Activist Jia Lingmin (贾灵敏) sentenced to 4 years for defending others
- Tibetan Tulku Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche (普布泽仁仁波切) sentenced to 8.5 years for free assembly, association, and religion
- Activist Xu Zhiyong (许志永) sentenced to 4 years for free assembly and association
- Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti (伊力哈木.土赫提) sentenced to life for free expression
- Activist Liu Ping (刘萍) sentenced to 6.5 years for free assembly, expression, and religion
- Writer Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波) and artist Liu Xiu (刘霞) sentenced to 11 years & illegal house arrest, respectively, for free expression and being married to a dissident
This year’s UN Human Rights Day is devoted to the launch of a year-long campaign for the 50th anniversary of the two international human rights treaties: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1966. The Chinese government ratified the ICESCR in 2001 (see information submitted by CHRD for the 2014 review of China’s compliance with this Covenant). China signed the ICCPR in 1998 but has not yet ratified it. The two Covenants, together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, form the International Bill of Human Rights, setting out civil, political, cultural, economic, and social rights that are universal to all people.
Follow and help promote the Free 10 by 12/10 Campaign on CHRD’s Twitter account!
Contacts:
Renee Xia, International Director (Mandarin, English), +1 863 866 1012, reneexia@chrdnet.com, Follow on Twitter: @ReneeXiaCHRD
Victor Clemens, Research Coordinator (English), +1 209 643 0539, victorclemens@chrdnet.com, Follow on Twitter: @VictorClemens
Frances Eve, Researcher (English), +852 6695 4083, franceseve@chrdnet.com, Follow on Twitter:@FrancesEveCHRD
Linda Wang, Program Coordinator (Mandarin, Cantonese, English), +1 917 426 0973, lindawang@chrdnet.com