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Charged with “Subversion of State Power”
HRIC urges the international community to follow developments in the cases of Li Chunfu (李春富), Li Heping (李和平), Liu Sixin (刘四新), Liu Yongping (刘永平), Wu Gan (吴淦) (aka Tufu屠夫), and Wang Quanzhang (王全璋), who—more than a year into their detention—are still awaiting trial on the charge of “subversion of state power,” and to send independent observers to attend their trials to monitor procedural irregularities (see HRIC’s August 5, 2016 statement).
New and Recent
Media
Letter from Ding Zilin to Mrs. Lois Snow
Ding Zilin, mother of Jiang Jielian, who was shot and killed, at age 17, on the night of June 3, 1989, is a founder of the Tiananmen Mothers group. Mrs. Lois Snow is the widow of the late Edgar Snow, American journalist and author of Red Star Over China (1937), widely regarded as one of the most...
March 27, 2017
Citizens' Square
Ding Zilin
Text of NGO Statement at Human Rights Council
(As delivered March 15, 2017) Mr. President, This statement is delivered by FIDH together with its member league HRIC. China continues to subject human rights defenders and lawyers to smear campaigns, disappearances, prolonged pretrial detentions, torture, and forced confessions. It also seeks to...
March 16, 2017
HRIC Bulletin
Video: Lawyer Chen Jiangang Stands By “Transcripts of Meetings with Xie Yang,” Denounces State Media
In this half-hour video, lawyer Chen Jiangang details his meetings with his client lawyer Xie Yang, who alleges torture by detention personnel, and the process of the compiling his “ Transcripts of Meetings with Xie Yang .” Chen states that he stands by the veracity of his Transcripts, and will...
March 10, 2017
Citizens' Square
19 NGOs Urge Govts’ Coordinated Action at Human Rights Council on China’s Violations
To: Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the UN Human Rights Council RE: Sustaining attention to human rights violations in China Excellency, After another year marked by enforced disappearances, denial of due process, and continued efforts to suppress human rights, we call on...
February 16, 2017
Joint Statements
China’s Follow-up Response to UN Committee against Torture: There is no “suppression” of “rights defense lawyers” or “activists”
Against the backdrop of recently emerged reports and allegations of torture in detention of several lawyers who have been in custody since the July 2015 massive crackdown on lawyers and rights defenders, and the “release on bail” of another lawyer displaying severe psychological problems including...
February 2, 2017
HRIC Bulletin
Commentary by Gao Wenqian: Human Rights and the U.S.-China Diplomatic Chessboard
HRIC Senior Policy Advisor Gao Wenqian shares his views on U.S.-China relations reshaped under Donald Trump and some surprising implications for the human rights situation in China. Human Rights and the U.S.-China Diplomatic Chessboard Gao Wenqian Human rights have always been a piece on the U.S.-...
January 19, 2017
China Rights Forum
Gao Wenqian
709 Lawyer Released on Bail in Psychological Distress
HRIC received the following account of the “release on bail” of lawyer Li Chunfu ( 李春富 ) , who was detained in the 709 crackdown in 2015. The account describes Li in a state of apparent psychological damage. It was written by Wang Qiaoling ( 王峭岭 ) , wife of Li’s brother, lawyer Li Heping (李和平) ,...
January 13, 2017
HRIC Bulletin
Li Heping
Statement Concerning the Disappearance of Lawyer Jiang Tianyong for over Six days
Rights lawyer from Beijing, Jiang Tianyong, has been missing since November 21, 2016. In light of the enforced disappearance and torture he suffered previously because of his involvement in numerous public interest defense cases and legal actions, his wife Jin Bianling, together with four family...
November 27, 2016
Citizens' Square
Jiang Tianyong
HRIC Warns Dangers of “human rights with Chinese characteristics”
In the report “ The China Challenge to International Human Rights: What's at Stake? ” released earlier this month, HRIC examines the PRC government’s engagement with the international human rights system in recent years and concludes that its official declarations of practicing “socialist human...
November 23, 2016
HRIC Bulletin
Xi’s “Core Leader” Status: A Blessing or A Curse?
[Translation by Human Rights in China] A Short Commentary on the 6th Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China The 6th Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China officially established Xi Jinping’s “core” status in the Party. The process leading...
November 3, 2016
China Rights Forum
Gao Wenqian
Courageous Voices

Throughout the mass crackdown of lawyers and defenders, Chinese authorities have abused legal process and viciously attacked individuals and professional organizations. Yet, courageous individuals are still speaking out and countering the onslaught of official propaganda. (All text translated by Human Rights in China.)

Final Defense Statement for Wang Yu—When Confession Has Become the Prerequisite for Bail
It became known on August 1 that lawyer Wang Yu, the principal “culprit” in the “709 crackdown” was released on bail pending further investigation. The news came after she had been held in secret detention for more than one year, during which time she had no access to lawyers and nothing was known...
August 9, 2016
Citizens' Square
Speech by Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at the 2016 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders Ceremony, Geneva, October 11, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad9I-RoJAbA (Speech at 59:20-1:07:08) http://www.martinennalsaward.org/ Unofficial Transcription by Human Rights in China Madame Calmy-Rey, university rector, Foundation Chair, excellencies, colleagues and friends, I’m honored by this invitation to speak, which has...
October 11, 2016
Mao’s Cultural Revolution Legacy and Xi Jinping’s Governance Model
NOTE: The following is an English translation of an essay originally presented at “The Legacy of Mao Zedong and Contemporary China” conference held in June 2016 at the University of California at Riverside. [Translation by Human Rights in China] Mao Zedong was the predestined misfortune of the...
September 30, 2016
China Rights Forum
Gao Wenqian
HRIC Translation: “Lawyer Xia Lin: Such Is Our Country, and All We Can Do Now Is Fill Up Our Glasses”
“Lawyer Xia Lin: Such Is Our Country, and All We Can Do Now Is Fill Up Our Glasses” Guo Yushan, September 20, 2016 [HRIC Note: On September 22, 2016, Xia Lin ( 夏霖) , a well-known criminal defense lawyer of the Beijing Huayi Law Firm was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment and three years’...
September 23, 2016
HRIC Bulletin
Guo Yushan
UN Expert: Chinese Government Needs “Genuine Accountability”
Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, released a statement today in Beijing saying that while China’s achievements in alleviating extreme poverty in recent years have been “extraordinary,” that progress has been accompanied by “very high levels of inequality...
August 23, 2016
HRIC Bulletin
Family and Defender Urge Attention to Liu Jiacai’s Situation in Prison
Rights defender Liu Jiacai, currently serving his sentence in Hanjin Prison in Hubei Province, is frequently subjected to physical punishment and is taking psychotropic drugs to ease his mental pressure, according to fellow activist Li Wei. At the request of Liu’s wife, Li has constructed an...
August 26, 2016
Citizens' Square
HRIC Translation: Annotated Excerpts from Hu Shigen and Zhou Shifeng's Trial Transcripts
In the first week of August 2016, the Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People's Court tried and convicted one rights lawyer and three activists of “subversion of state power.” They were Zhai Yanmin ( 翟岩民) , a law firm employee; Hu Shigen ( 胡石根) , a democracy and religious freedom activist; Zhou Shifeng...
August 11, 2016
HRIC Bulletin
Hu Shigen
New HRIC Translation: Essay by Lawyer Gao Zhisheng on Imprisoned Rights Activist Guo Feixiong
On May 9, 2016, imprisoned and ailing rights activist Guo Feixiong ( 郭飞雄 ) (penname of Yang Maodong, ( 杨茂东 ) ) began a hunger strike to protest degrading treatment in prison that included the video recording of a forced physical exam, which prison authorities threatened to post online. Guo’s...
August 9, 2016
HRIC Bulletin
Gao Zhisheng
NGO Statement at Human Rights Council
Geneva, March 15, 2017

Delivered by HRIC as member league of the FIDH on human rights violations in China and Turkey. (At 00:46:51 or video 29 on UN Web TV.)

Wang Qiaoling Accepts Franco-German Prize for Human Rights

Wang Qiaoling, wife of human rights lawyer Li Heping, speaks at awards ceremony while accepting a human rights prize from France and Germany, December 2016 (in Chinese).
See articles by Wang Qiaoling in HRIC's "Courageous Voices."

UN Human Rights Council: New & Recent

HRIC UPR Mid-Term Progress Assessment of China
“The China Challenge To International Human Rights: What’s At Stake?” (EN, CH) (November 2016)
Also available at: UPR-INFO.ORG

UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty & human rights: Philip Alston
End-of-mission statement from China visit (August 2016)
Final report (forthcoming) June 2017

HRIC Daily Brief
See More
One Year On: International Community Urges China to Uphold Rule of Law

See more: Crackdown on Chinese Lawyers

Professional Associations

Governments

NGOs

The Value of Values
Reconsidering the Role of Human Rights in U.S.-China Relations

Wilson Center Kissinger Inst. on China & the U.S.

“Either/or ways of framing policy choices limit our strategic imagination. . . . We need to move away from traditional binary computing thinking and into the quantum space where both particle and wave can exist simultaneously and the possibilities are infinite.”

—Sharon Hom, HRIC Executive Director

[English Text, 中文译稿, Video, English PDF]

Highlights
  • Mi Ling Tsui speaking at rally on the 57th Anniversary of the "Tibetan National Uprising Day." Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York City, March 10, 2016. Credit: HRIC photo.
  • Keith Harper, U.S. Ambassador to the Human Rights Council, delivering a joint statement by 12 governments on the human rights deterioration in China since 2015. Geneva, Switzerland, March 10, 2016. Credit: Screen capture of webtv.un.org video.
  • Panel discussion HRIC participated in at Fordham Law School. New York City, March 7, 2016.
  • HRIC Executive Director, Sharon Hom, speaking at “Cybersecurity from China’s Perspective,” panel organized by The Christian Science Monitor. Boston, February 4, 2016. Credit: Screen capture from Christian Science Monitor’s YouTube channel.
  • HRIC staff with NGO colleagues during China’s fifth review by the Committee Against Torture. Geneva, Switzerland, November 18, 2015. Credit: HRIC photo.
  • Sharon Hom presenting at the “Internet Freedom Technology Showcase: The Future of Human Rights Online,” coordinated by the U.S. Department of State. City University of New York, September 26, 2015.
  • Sharon Hom participating in “Tenzin Delek Lives: A Memorial and Tribute.” Foley Square, New York City, August 30, 2015. Credit: HRIC photo.
  • June Fourth candlelight vigil in Victoria Park, Hong Kong, 2015. Photo Credit: HRIC photo.
A Complex Relationship (Podcast)

New CRF: HK + Mainland: Shared Future, Contested Present
China’s review by UN Committee Against Torture 2015

China’s review took place on November 17 & 18. For more information, see:

Robert L. Bernstein Institute for Human Rights at NYU School of Law

HRIC is pleased to share New York University School of Law's announcement of the launch of the Robert L. Bernstein Institute for Human Rights. We are honored to be leading one of the Institute’s new initiatives, the China and International Human Rights Law Research Program.  

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