In the wake of Zhang Qing’s death, US-based Christian NGO ChinaAid republishes the “2022 New Year’s Declaration on China’s Human Rights Crisis”. This declaration is public and open to sign. Make no […]
Chinese writer and PEN America honoree marks one year in detention
“At every turn, the government has chosen to double-down on repression, rather than to permit Xu [Zhiyong] and [partner] Li [Qiaochu] the basic human right to express themselves freely.” PEN America calls […]
China bars imprisoned activist’s access to lawyers, hiding potential mistreatment
Held incommunicado since February, writer and activist Xu Zhiyong will receive PEN America’s 2020 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award.
We signed!
Probe International has added its support to a letter signed by more than 60 MPs urging the Canadian government to take action against top Chinese officials in response to “human rights atrocities” […]
Lawyer Xia Lin will be sentenced on September 22, and it will have nothing to do with the law
As we all know now, Xia Lin, a 46-year-old lawyer whose clients have included dissident artist Ai Weiwei and free speech champion Pu Zhiqiang, was sentenced to jail for 12 years — a verdict meant as both payback and warning to China’s human rights lawyers. Legal activist and scholar, Guo Yushan, penned this essay in the lead up to Xia’s sentencing reflecting on the price paid by Xia and his colleagues for work that has been described elsewhere as “all that is hopeful and optimistic about China”.
Canada should refuse to vote human-rights abusers to UN council, MP alliance says
Former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler and an all-party alliance of MPs call for Canada to vote down countries known for their human rights violations – Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and Cuba – as they seek re-election to the United Nations Human Rights Council. Michelle Zilio reports for the Globe and Mail’s Ottawa bureau.
China’s ‘red princess’ turned investigative journalist
Raised by the Communist party elite, Dai Qing has since become one of China’s most critical female voices. Al Jazeera’s spotlight on Probe International Fellow, Dai Qing.
The Sword of Damocles hanging over every Chinese NGO
This terrific commentary deals with Beijing’s crackdown on NGOs and its larger ramifications if the country’s (remaining) civil society groups do not stand together against tremendous pressure to steer clear of a “political red line” that keeps moving to ensure anything, if the authorities wish, can be deemed off-limits.
Guo Yushan and the predicament of NGOs in China
Chinese writer and activist, Zeng Jinyan, discusses here in this extraordinarily nuanced piece, first published on Chinese social media, the shifting ground affecting domestic “pragmatic” NGOs and the implications for foreign NGOs with partners in China.
A letter to my husband Guo Yushan: IV
Eighty-six days after being taken from his Bejing home by police on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking troubles,” Guo Yushan is officially arrested and charged with “operating an illegal business”. Guo’s wife, Pan Haixia, posts her fourth letter to him online in his absence. Pan appears to have gained a sense of renewed fortitude from the endurance of others in similar situations, the support of friends and the online world that permits “people to express in solidarity with others”; an outlet that has also allowed Pan to share these extraordinary letters that will stand the test of time as part of her country’s historical record.
A letter to my husband Guo Yushan: III
More than fifty days have passed since detained legal activist and scholar, Guo Yushan, was taken from his Beijing home. His wife, Pan Haixia, posts her third letter to him online in his absence.
All-seeing, all-knowing
To some, the availability of big data in China signals a shift toward democracy. But technocrats within the government also see it as a way to create a more efficient form of authoritarianism. Aeon Magazine reports.
China crushes intellectual freedom even after decades of successful market reforms
The brutal treatment of champions of freedom is a stark reminder that market reforms are not enough to serve as the foundation of a free society. Atlas Network reports.
Looking forward to the moment when you return: Zhou Qinghui to Huang Kaiping
As China continues its crackdown on reform-minded scholars and civil liberties, the wife of yet another detained member of the respected Beijing-based think tank, Transition Institute, has spoken out in an open letter circulated online. Reaching out to her husband, Huang Kaiping, in the only way she now can, Zhou Qinghui recounts in vivid voice their first meeting, as fifth graders, up until the current day’s events, cast in shadow by the question mark of an uncertain future under a repressive regime.
Silencing Guo Yushan
A US-based colleague of detained Chinese activist, Guo Yushan, reflects on Guo’s formal arrest earlier this month.
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