Winners Named for the 2026 Cao Shunli Memorial Award for Human Rights Defenders

March 15, 2026       Comments Off on Winners Named for the 2026 Cao Shunli Memorial Award for Human Rights Defenders
Winners Named for the 2026 Cao Shunli Memorial Award for Human Rights Defenders

After a public call for nominations and a vote by the initiating organizations, the 12th Cao Shunli Memorial Award for Human Rights Defenders (2026) is awarded to two human rights defenders from China: Ms. Wei Wenyuan and Ms. Wang Rongwen.

March 14, 2026, marks the 12th anniversary of the death of Ms. Cao Shunli, who lost her life after being tortured while arbitrarily detained. Human rights activists in China have designated March 14 as “Human Rights Defenders Day.”

The Cao Shunli Memorial Award for Human Rights Defenders Selection Committee (composed of the initiating organizations)

Two women activists, Wei Wenyuan (危文元) and Wang Rongwen (王蓉文), are the recipients of the12th Cao Shunli Memorial Award for Human Rights Defenders. The award recognizes their courageous human rights activism, embodying Cao’s legacy and spirit.

Ms. Wei is an activist, petitioner, and former citizen journalist who has served a total of seven years in prison. Authorities twice prosecuted her tireless and legal activism on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” leading to prison terms from 2015 to 2018 and from 2021 to 2025. Her advocacy began with seeking justice for her family after the forced demolition of their home in Chongqing and later expanded to documenting rights abuses against other petitioners. After her December 2025 release from prison, authorities reportedly detained her again after she traveled to Beijing to petition during the March 2026 National People’s Congress session.

Ms. Wang is an activist and petitioner who served two years and two months in prison between 2017 and 2019. Sichuan authorities convicted her of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” in response to her activism. For more than two decades, she has sought justice for her family following a forced eviction. She has simultaneously advocated for fellow citizens’ rights through grassroots democratic participation and demanding government accountability—all while facing the risk of further persecution by the authorities.

The 2026 award recognizes Ms. Wei and Ms. Wang for their unwavering grassroots human rights activism and their advocacy on behalf of petitioners and other vulnerable groups despite years of wrongful detention and mistreatment. Through their work, they have sought to hold the Chinese government accountable for violations of domestic law and international human rights obligations.

About the Cao Shunli Memorial Award

March 14, 2026, marks the twelfth anniversary ofCao Shunli (曹顺利)’s death in police custody in Beijing. Rights activists in China have designated March 14 as “Human Rights Defenders Day.” Several Chinese human rights organizations established the Cao Shunli Memorial Award in 2014 to honor Cao Shunli’s life and work. The award recognizes individuals who carry forward her legacy of grassroots human rights advocacy and who have made significant efforts to hold the government accountable for rights violations despite the risk of reprisals.

Previous Cao Shunli Memorial Award for Human Rights Defenders Recipients

The Cao Shunli Memorial Award acknowledges the efforts of all human rights defenders in China who have demonstrated a deep commitment to promoting human rights, typically in the face of great personal risk. The award has been announced annually before or on March 14, the anniversary of Cao’s death in 2014. Previous recipients include:

CHRD’s dedicated page on Cao Shunli provides further information on her background, activism, detention, the circumstances surrounding her death, and efforts for accountability.

Profiles of the 2026 Honorees

Wei Wenyuan (危文元)

Ms. Wei Wenyuan, 57, from Chongqing, became active in rights advocacy after authorities forcibly demolished her home in 2009 without providing fair compensation.

While seeking justice for her own situation, Wei began to support other petitioners and marginalized groups; that support included documenting rights abuses. As a citizen journalist with the human rights website 64 Tiawan—founded by the now-imprisoned HRD Huang Qi—Ms. Wei reported extensively on rights abuses in Chongqing and helped other petitioners bring attention to their cases. In response, authorities repeatedly threatened, surveilled, and detained her. Between 2009 and 2014, police detained her more than a dozen times.

In August 2015, police detained Wei while she was investigating a protest by petitioners outside the Chongqing Daily newspaper office. Authorities later formally arrested her on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” and in August 2016 a Chongqing court sentenced her to two and a half years in prison. After her release in February 2018, police continued to harass her.

On June 4, 2021, township officials in Chongqing lured Wei to an office under the pretext of discussing her long-standing demolition petition. She never left the office; fellow petitioners later learned that police had detained her again on the same charge. Authorities held her in pre-trial detention for more than two and a half years before news emerged that a court had sentenced her to four years and six months in prison. She completed her sentence and was released on December 3, 2025.

Wang Rongwen (王蓉文)

Ms. Wang Rongwen, 72, from Chengdu, began her activism after authorities forcibly evicted her family and demolished their home in Qingyang District in 2006.

In May 2006, during the demolition dispute, Wang’s elderly mother—the legal owner of the property—died under suspicious circumstances shortly after meeting with demolition personnel. Chengdu authorities have never publicly released the autopsy report despite demands from the family.

After officials failed to investigate the suspicious death of her mother or the loss of their home, Wang traveled to Beijing to petition and began speaking out about forced evictions and other rights abuses. In February 2012, she attempted to collect signatures to nominate herself as an independent grassroots candidate in Qingyang District for election as a deputy to the People’s Congress. A local party leader and police briefly detained her and excluded her from the final candidate list.

Wang has also monitored public-interest litigation and supported peaceful protests. In response, authorities have subjected her to years of surveillance, intercepted her while petitioning, and detained and intimidated her. In January 2024, officials again intercepted her in Beijing and forcibly returned her to Chengdu, where they held her under the pretext of “tourism” detention before releasing her.

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