Slide Show | Chinese Human Rights Defenders

Alert: Chinese authorities seek to levy national security charges, escalating crackdown

January 9, 2026 Comments Off

(Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders, January 9, 2026) On January 6, Sichuan police detained at least ten people associated with the Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu from their homes or the church premises in a coordinated raid. Six remain in custody and have been criminally detained, according to a (read more…)

Alert: Chinese authorities target writer, artist for critical cultural expression

December 17, 2025 Comments Off

(Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders—December 17, 2025) Chinese authorities are arbitrarily detaining an artist and a writer in retaliation for artwork and books critical of the government. The laws invoked in both cases violate the Chinese government’s obligations under international human rights law.

Joint NGO letter to UK government following conviction of Jimmy Lai

December 16, 2025 Comments Off

Today, British citizen Jimmy Lai has been found guilty in his trial in Hong Kong, on two national security law charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and a charge of conspiracy to publish seditious material. He faces a sentence of up to life imprisonment. He has been imprisoned (read more…)

中国政府必须终止长期监禁人权捍卫者

December 10, 2025 Comments Off

（中国人权捍卫者——2025年12月10日）非政府组织中国人权捍卫者（CHRD）于12月10日国际人权日之际呼吁中国政府结束对人权捍卫者的长期监禁。多年来，中国当局对和平行使或捍卫人权的人士动辄判处10年或更长的刑期，试图让世界遗忘这些人及他们的抗争。

China: End Long-Term Imprisonment of Human Rights Defenders

December 9, 2025 Comments Off

(Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders—December 9, 2025) On International Human Rights Day, December 10, CHRD calls on the Chinese government to end its practice of long-term imprisonment of human rights defenders (HRDs). Authorities impose prison sentences of 10 years or longer to silence peaceful dissent, and to try to (read more…)

China’s ‘White Paper’ Protests: 3 Years Later

November 26, 2025 Comments Off

Three years ago this week, people across China, outraged by a deadly fire in Urumqi and profoundly frustrated by the government’s harsh “zero-COVID” policies, took part in impromptu protests, some of the most visible expressions public discontent since the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy demonstrations. Most chose to simply hold aloft blank pieces (read more…)

Alert: Deaths in detention should prompt investigations, prosecutions

November 25, 2025 Comments Off

(Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders, November 25, 2025) — Chinese website Rights Defence Network reported in recent days that 83-year-old Falun Gong practitioner Zhao Wenxiu died in March 2025 while serving a 7.5-year prison sentence in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Zhao was wrongfully prosecuted in 2019 for exercising her right (read more…)

Joint NGO letter to demand immediate and unconditional release of Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan

October 29, 2025 Comments Off

CHRD joined 91 other civil society organizations and individuals to call on the governments of the G7 and EU/EEA members to exert diplomatic pressure on the Hong Kong government to release Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan immediately and unconditionally.

Chinese authorities expand crackdown on Christian house churches

October 27, 2025 Comments Off

(Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders, October 27, 2025) – The Chinese government’s October detentions of dozens of Christians from house churches indicate an acceleration of its campaign against religious freedom. Over the past two years, church leaders and congregants across the country appear to be increasingly targeted for arbitrary (read more…)

The real fight for women’s rights in China

October 16, 2025 Comments Off

On Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) addressed the Leaders’ Meeting on Women in Beijing, extolling his government’s support for many aspects of women’s rights. Yet having grown up in China, my vivid memories over the past few decades paint a starkly different picture of how women have fought to (read more…)

Joint Statement from Civil Society Groups on the Chinese Government’s Arbitrary Detention of Swedish publisher Gui Minhai

October 15, 2025 Comments Off

We, the undersigned press freedom, journalists’, human rights, international organisations, strongly condemn the Chinese government’s ongoing arbitrary detention of Swedish publisher and writer Gui Minhai on the 10th anniversary of his kidnapping.

China: End Decade-long Disappearance of Swedish Publisher Gui Minhai

October 13, 2025 Comments Off

(Chinese Human Rights Defenders, October 13, 2025)—Chinese authorities should immediately release Gui Minhai, a Swedish publisher disappeared, arbitrarily detained, and wrongfully prosecuted since 2015, and allow him to leave China.