BEIJING — The date says it all: the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation, a leading women’s rights group, was formally registered in September 1987, just two months after Taiwan’s leader, Chiang Ching-kuo, lifted martial law, legalizing the political opposition. Many civil society groups that had long been gathering ideas and forces (read more…)
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China has launched a nationwide crackdown on rights activists clamoring for transparency and participation in the government’s closed-door preparations for a once-in-four years U.N. review of the country’s human rights record, according to a rights group. Chinese rights campaigners who called on the government both to disclose materials about the (read more…)
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The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention on the following situation in the People’s Republic of China.
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Two courts in Qinghai Province have sentenced a total of 12 ethnic Tibetans on trumped-up charges, handing down punishments ranging from three to six years for “inciting splittism” and “illegally holding a demonstration.” One case is tied to photographs and information shared online about self-immolations, while the other stems from (read more…)
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Submission to: Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment Allegation Letter on behalf of Zhou Decai, citizen of the People’s Republic of China Alleging Torture & Arbitrary Detention & (read more…)
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A detainee’s disclosures of mistreatment at a women’s Re-education through Labor (RTL) camp have triggered reports in Chinese media, forcing officials to promise an investigation into the revelations. A diary, the source of the information, details how police have arbitrarily detained petitioners under the pretext of “maintaining stability” and committed (read more…)
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Four Chinese activists have been criminally detained on a charge of “unlawful assembly” after holding a public rally at which they held banners calling for public disclosure of Chinese officials’ personal wealth. On March 31, police dragged away the activists, who had demonstrated a dozen times since February. In other (read more…)
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Submission to: Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression Communiqué on behalf of Cao Haibo, citizen of the People’s Republic of China I. IDENTITY 1. Family name: CAO (曹) 2. First name: Haibo (海波) 3. (read more…)
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The Chinese government must stop harassing and persecuting activists for requesting to participate in the Universal Periodic Review of the country’s human rights record, and instead allow members of civil society to play an important role in the process. Officials have stated that its drafting and dissemination of materials related (read more…)
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Originally published in OMCT on March 20, 2013 URGENT APPEAL – THE OBSERVATORY CHN 002 / 0313 / OBS 026 Arbitrary arrest / Ill-treatment / Harassment People’s Republic of China March 20, 2013 The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against (read more…)
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Originally published in Asianews.it on March 18, 2013 Chinese Human Rights Defenders released its annual report on human rights violations in mainland China last year. Forced labour cases are down but the number of people taking their own life because of the authorities’ refusal to listen to their grievances is (read more…)
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Originally published in South China Morning Post on March 11, 2013 Agence France-Presse in Beijing A few miles from China’s National People’s Congress in Beijing, citizens who have travelled from across the country to tell the government about their problems face tight controls on this age-old right. China’s centuries-old petition (read more…)
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