News - Chinese Human Rights DefendersChinese Human Rights Defenders

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…)

China: Release 6 Activists Facing Trial for Trumped-Up Charges

July 22, 2015 Comments Off

CHRD calls on Chinese authorities to immediately release six human rights defenders facing imminent trial and drop all trumped-up charges against them. Four activists—Guangdong-based Tang Jingling (唐荆陵), Wang Qingying (王清营), Yuan Xinting (袁新亭), and Ye Xiaozhen (叶晓峥)—will be tried on Thursday, July 23. Trial proceedings originally set for the same (read more…)

China: Halt Police Operations Targeting Human Rights Lawyers as “National Security” Threat

July 13, 2015 Comments Off

Massive police operations across China starting July 9 are a serious affront to civil liberties. The deteriorating human rights conditions in China under President Xi Jinping have now reached crisis point. The raids, involving abductions, detentions, disappearances, summons, and searches, have affected more than 100 lawyers and activists, with the (read more…)

UN leadership: China must fully #FreetheFive

July 9, 2015 Comments Off

(Geneva) – Ahead of the twentieth anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Plan of Action this September, the UN and its Member States have the opportunity – and the obligation – to demand that China improve its human rights record, said ISHR and CHRD today. This call follows the release of an (read more…)

[CHRB] Pu Zhiqiang Detained 14 Months Without Trial, Recently Denied Lawyers’ Access & Medical Treatment (7/3-7/9/2015)

July 9, 2015 Comments Off

Prominent human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang (浦志强) has recently been denied access to legal counsel and proper medical treatment, according to information obtained by CHRD. Pu has now been held in pre-trial detention for more than 14 months at Beijing No. 1 Detention Center. Beijing prosecutors indicted Pu on May (read more…)

[CHRB] Criminal Charges & State Media Smear Campaign Against Versatile Rights Activist (6/26-7/2/2015)

July 2, 2015 Comments Off

Detained activist Wu Gan (吴淦), widely known by his online alias, “The Butcher” (屠夫), faces charges of “libel,” “creating a disturbance,” and “inciting subversion of state power,” and a state media smear campaign has been unleashed against him. Both the official media attack against Wu and the “inciting subversion” charge—which (read more…)

[CHRB] More State-Approved Violence Against Rights Lawyers (6/20-25, 2015)

June 26, 2015 Comments Off

Four separate incidents of physical assaults against lawyers since April show the increasing risks faced by human rights lawyers in China, a trend that CHRD detailed in its 2014 annual report. In the latest incident of such violence, lawyer Wang Quanzhang (王全章) was beaten in a Shandong courthouse on June (read more…)

[CHRB] Closed-Door Trial of Guangzhou Activists & Hunger Strike in Henan Detention Center (6/16-19/2015)

June 19, 2015 Comments Off

The trial of disbarred lawyer Tang Jingling (唐荆陵) and activists Yuan Chaoyang (袁朝阳 aka Yuan Xinting 袁新亭) and Wang Qingying (王清营) began behind closed doors at the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court on June 19. Meanwhile, The health of detained activist Jia Lingmin (贾灵敏) has rapidly deteriorated following a month-long hunger (read more…)

Police Detain Two Rights Advocates as NGO Crackdown Intensifies

June 15, 2015 Comments Off

On the evening of June 12, Guangdong police, in a coordinated move with state security officers from Beijing and Henan Province, seized two activists and detained them on suspicion of “illegal business activity.” Guo Bin (郭斌), the head of the NGO Zhongyixing, which advocates for the rights of persons with (read more…)