News | Chinese Human Rights Defenders

What Has Xi Done? Xi Jinping Leadership’s Human Rights Record (March 2013 – September 2015)

September 25, 2015 Comments Off

March 2013 – Present: Since President Xi Jinping’s presidency began, CHRD has documented more than 1,800 cases of arbitrary detention and torture of human rights defenders. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波), detained in December 2008, remains imprisoned. March 2013 – Present: Torture remains endemic in Chinese detention centers (read more…)

Guest Post: The Repression of Human Rights Defenders in China

March 1, 2015 Comments Off

By Frances Eve | A prominent pro-bono lawyer disappeared into police custody in Beijing last November. The family of Xia Lin, a man known for defending death penalty cases and environmental activists, has received no information about him for more than three months.

The Plight of China’s Rights Lawyers

January 20, 2015 Comments Off

By Frances Eve | As 2014 came to a close, at least seven prominent Chinese human rights lawyers rang in the New Year from a jail cell. Under President Xi Jinping, the year was one of the worst in recent memory for China’s embattled civil society.

The Dark Side of the Boom: As China’s Economy Grows, Evictions and Land Grabs Rise With It

January 1, 2015 Comments Off

By Victor Clemens | The booming construction and development industry in China has brought about a devastating side effect: violent episodes of land appropriation, housing evictions, and demolitions that typically victimize the poorest citizens, especially in urban areas.

China: Detained to Death

May 20, 2014 Comments Off

By Renee Xia & Perry Link | The detention of activists by the Chinese government is well known, but there is relatively little discussion about medical treatment in detention facilities. This issue is crucial for understanding what happened to Cao Shunli, a legal rights activist who died in custody in (read more…)

UN Women: Press China to Protect, Not Persecute, Women Rights Defenders

September 16, 2015 Comments Off

CHRD is concerned that the Chinese government is to co-host a world summit with UN Women on gender equality and women’s empowerment, at a time when women human rights defenders and NGOs are facing unusually harsh repression under President Xi Jinping. Xi will open the global meeting at the UN (read more…)

The US Must Press China for Concrete Human Rights Gains before Xi’s State Visit

September 1, 2015 Comments Off

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the United States on September 24-25 comes at a time when his government is staging a ferocious crackdown against human rights lawyers. China’s overall human rights conditions have deteriorated since Xi took power in 2013. Xi has presided over the detentions and imprisonment (read more…)

[CHRB] What Happened to the Detained Lawyers: 18 Held in Secret & Several Accused of “Endangering National Security” (8/12-20/2015)

August 20, 2015 Comments Off

An important deadline has passed in the continued detentions of lawyers and activists seized during the July crackdown. The 37-day maximum allowed for criminal detention has passed for the seven individuals criminally detained between July 8-14. Police still hold in custody 22 lawyers and activists; of these, 15 are either (read more…)

China: Open letter to States for joint action to address worsening crackdown on human rights defenders and lawyers

August 12, 2015 Comments Off

10 August 2015 To: Permanent Representatives of Member States and Observer States of the UN Human Rights Council China: Open letter to States for joint action to address worsening crackdown on human rights defenders and lawyers Your Excellency, We urge your delegation to make statements, both jointly and (read more…)

Concerns in Chinese Civil Society Over “Ineffective” US-China Human Rights Dialogue

August 11, 2015 Comments Off

Human rights lawyers and activists call for concrete measures to improve the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in China in advance of the annual US-China Human Rights Dialogue, which is taking place in Washington, D.C. on August 13-14. The dialogue will be held against the backdrop of a major crackdown (read more…)

China: Drop Draft Criminal Law Amendments & Protect Human Rights

August 4, 2015 Comments Off

CHRD is very concerned about proposed articles legalizing human rights abuses in the current draft 9th Amendments to the Criminal Law, which are open for public consultation until August 5. In suggestions sent to the National People’s Congress, Chinese human rights defenders draw attention to proposed changes that are particularly (read more…)

Abysmal Human Rights Conditions & Systematic Failure to Play by Rules Make China Unfit to Host 2022 Winter Games

July 28, 2015 Comments Off

China’s abysmal and worsening human rights conditions, including systematic suppression of free expression as well as peaceful assembly and association, make Beijing an unfit host for the Winter Games in 2022, CHRD has expressed in a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IOC’s handing of the Olympics to (read more…)