As the US-China Strategic & Economic Dialogue opens in Beijing on June 6, the US should use this opportunity to push for the Chinese government to end its persecution of human rights defenders who promote social and economic rights. These HRDs should be allowed to play an essential role in (read more…)
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Since 1989, the Chinese Communist Party has enforced a policy of denial about the 1989 Tiananmen protests and their violent suppression. Authorities have suppressed demands by victims’ families for justice and any efforts to commemorate those who died when government troops opened fire on peaceful protesters. The government has scrubbed (read more…)
Read more![[CHRB] Family Notified of Activist’s Arrest 226 Days After He Disappeared in Myanmar (5/19/2016)](https://www.nchrd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Xing-Tang-336x235.jpg)
Activist Xing Qingxian (幸清贤), who has been disappeared for over seven months after being abducted in Myanmar, was formally arrested on May 6 on suspicion of “organizing others to cross national borders.” Xing is apparently being held in Tianjin Municipal No. 2 Detention Center—the first known confirmation of his exact (read more…)
Read more![[CHRB] Inner Mongolians Detained for Exposing & Protesting Environmental Ruin, Violated Land Rights (5/13-18/2016)](https://www.nchrd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Picture1.jpg)
In a string of suppressive actions since March, police have detained several Inner Mongolian activists, petitioners, and herders in retaliation for exposing or protesting industrial pollution and corruption over land rights that have threatened their livelihoods. Six individuals remain in custody, with one held incommunicado and, thus, at significant risk (read more…)
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CHRD calls for an independent investigation into the alleged torture of human rights defender Yin Xu’an (尹旭安), who has been detained in retaliation for his rights advocacy work since July 2015. Authorities only allowed Yin his first lawyer visit this week, after holding him incommunicado for over nine months. During (read more…)
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Two Chinese activists have been convicted and sentenced to prison in Hubei Province on May 9, 2016. Yuan Bing received four years and Yuan Xiaohua received three years over peaceful rallies that they attended in 2013. The Chibi City People’s Court convicted them on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking (read more…)
Read more![[CHRB] Forced Psychiatric Commitment of Dissidents Continues as Police Act Above Enacted Law (4/29-5/5, 2016)](https://www.nchrd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/psych-detention-336x300.jpg)
Forced commitment in psychiatric facilities remains a common form of retaliation and punishment by Chinese authorities against activists and government critics. The practice endures though it is apparently illegal, according to China’s first Mental Health Law, which was enacted three years ago, on May 1, 2013. Typically, government officials or (read more…)
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The health of imprisoned activist Yang Maodong (杨茂东) has worsened to the point where his life may be in danger without prompt and proper medical treatment, according to his sister. Her alarming observations come less than a month after CHRD sent an update to UN human rights experts about Yang’s (read more…)
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CHRD denounces the Chinese government’s adoption of a law governing overseas NGOs that will have a profoundly detrimental impact on China’s civil society. The law passed China’s rubber-stamp legislature on April 28 despite critical international responses to the most recent draft. The adopted version appears to retain the previous draft’s (read more…)
Read more![[CHRB] China Must Release 5 Activists on Trial: Cases Marred by Abuses (4/13-21/2016)](https://www.nchrd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/5-trials-in-april-336x300.jpg)
Four detained human rights defenders have been tried since April 15, and a fifth is facing trial on April 22. All have spent lengthy periods of time in detention without seeing a judge, including two who have been held for almost three years. The activists—Liu Shaoming, Yuan Bing, Yuan Xiaohua, (read more…)
Read more![[CHRB] What You Need to Know About Last Week’s Prison Sentences & Xi Jinping’s 2014 Crackdowns (4/1-4/12, 2016)](https://www.nchrd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/activists.jpg)
Prison sentences recently given to six human right defenders are reminders of ongoing arbitrary detentions and relentless persecution of dissent in China under Xi Jinping’s rule. The six activists were convicted on April 8 of “inciting subversion of state power” in Guangdong and Hubei, and sentenced to terms of between (read more…)
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Risky prospects: Engagement of Chinese human rights defenders with the Human Rights Council
June 1, 2016 Comments Off on Risky prospects: Engagement of Chinese human rights defenders with the Human Rights CouncilBy Linda Wang & Alex Beck | For many Chinese human rights defenders and independent non-governmental organizations, difficulties and risks associated with engaging the Human Rights Council, including threat of Chinese government reprisals, outweigh the benefits. But there are meaningful actions the Council can take to improve access and to (read more…)
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