Amnesty International Releases Report on Human Rights Defenders in China
As leaders meet in the Netherlands this week for the annual EU-China summit, an international human rights watchdog group is releasing a report examining the growing numbers of human rights activists in China, and the great risks they face in speakin
As leaders meet in the Netherlands this week for the annual EU-China summit, an international human rights watchdog group is releasing a report examining the growing numbers of human rights activists in China, and the great risks they face in speaking out.
"We are seeing more and more individuals and groups working to protect human rights," said Catherine Baber, deputy Asia Director at Amnesty International. "Yet they continue to operate in a climate of mistrust and hostility. They may be at risk of arrest or imprisonment at any time."
In a report released by Amnesty International on Monday, the group stated that within the last eighteen months, at least five activists have been imprisoned for vaguely defined 'state secrets' offences, after they collected information on human rights issues and sent it abroad. One such activist mentioned in the report is Liu Fenggang, 45, who wrote a number of reports about the destruction of Protestant churches and the harsh treatment suffered by members of underground congregations. Liu, who was detained October of last year, was sentenced to three years in prison for “leaking state secrets.”
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In addition to Liu, Amnesty International also mentioned other activists who, according to Baber, “represent a growing number of individuals in China who stand up in the face of repressive laws to defend people's basic human rights.”
According to sources, Chinese law contains sweeping definitions of crimes, such as 'subversion' and 'stealing state secrets', which can be used to detain and imprison people simply for engaging in legitimate human rights activities. Activists have also frequently been subject to arbitrary detention, harassment, and intimidation.
Though Amnesty International noted that China amended its Constitution in March of this year to include the clause, "the state respects and protects human rights", the watchdog group stated that the most powerful demonstration of this commitment would be an end to imprisonment, arbitrary detention and intimidation of activists on the ground.
And while the Constitution also guarantees citizens' rights to petition the authorities, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences recently warned that an increasing number of people thought official state channels were no longer sufficient to sort out their complaints about local corruption and malpractice. The state institution recognized that some local governments resorted to violence to stop petitioners making their case to central government, a practice it described as 'appalling and outrageous'.
“Activists work across a range of fields, from Christians defending their right to worship to the 'Tiananmen Mothers' group campaigning for justice for their children who died in the 1989 crackdown,” Amnesty International said in a recent news release. Economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights—all have become subjects for activism in China.
“The Chinese authorities have got to realize that these individuals are working to protect the human rights of their fellow citizens," said Baber. "They must ensure that all human rights activists are able to work without fear of harassment, arbitrary detention or any other abuses of their human rights."
Currently, Amnesty International is calling on the international community, specifically the EU, to urge China to release all those imprisoned for their peaceful human rights activities and reform the laws used to imprison them.
The group’s report also contains appeals on behalf of individuals such as Zhang Shengqi, 30, and Xu Yonghai, 44—both members of the unofficial Protestant church working to protect the right to freedom of religion for fellow Christians in China.
Although Amnesty International has published numerous reports on the detention of prisoners of conscience in China, Monday’s report is its first report on China focused specifically on human rights defenders.
For the complete text of the report go to: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engasa170452004
