20 February 2011 By Bill
Quigley Chen Guangcheng, a blind, 39 year
old, self-taught, human rights lawyer in China who was
recently released after years in prison has been put
in home detention, isolated and beaten by authorities. Winner of numerous human rights
awards, Mr. Chen was imprisoned for investigating
violence and forced abortions against families in
China. He is one of many Chinese human rights lawyers
and advocates harassed, imprisoned and disappeared
recently. Since being released from prison
in September 2010, Mr. Chen, his wife and his young
daughter, have been cut off from phone, internet and
personal contact. They are confined to their home
which is surrounded by guards 24 hours a day. China Aid posted a video on their
website in which Mr. Chen describes being monitored
around the clock by three shifts of 22 agents each. After the video was posted, Mr.
Chen and his wife were beaten. Journalists from CNN,
Le Monde, and the New York Times who tried to visit
him have been threatened and harassed. Two lawyers,
Tang Jitian and Jiang Tianyong, were detained by
police in Beijing after discussing Mr. Chen's
situation, according to TIME. Mr. Chen, who has minimal formal
legal training, began his legal career by challenging
his own taxes. Later he helped an organization of
farmers fight to close a paper mill polluting local
water. In 2002, Newsweek recognized Mr.
Chen as part of a new generation of "barefoot lawyers"
who were helping people assert their legal and human
rights. (The idea of "barefoot lawyers" takes its name
from the training of local Chinese in basic medical
education who were then sent out into their
communities as "barefoot doctors.") The International Federation for
Human Rights reported Mr. Chen was arrested in March
2006 after investigating, putting together briefs, and
campaigning against the use of government violence and
forced abortions in the enforcement of the national
population policies of one child birth quotas in Linyi,
China. He spent over four years in prison after a two
hour trial where his lawyer was not allowed inside the
courtroom. Now? "I have come out of a small
jail and walked into a bigger jail," said Mr. Chen,
according to UPI, which recognized this as the
understatement of the week. Numerous other Chinese human
rights advocates and lawyers have been arrested,
disbarred or disappeared. Gao Zhisheng, the most
prominent human rights lawyer in China who ran the
Open Constitution Initiative from his home, once
recognized as one of the top 10 lawyers in China, was
hooded and dragged from his home by government agents
in 2009 and has not been seen since. Guo Feixiong,
another human rights lawyer, was imprisoned in 2007
after assisting villagers challenging corruption.
Human rights lawyer Liu Shihui, recently denied a
license to continue practicing law, was hooded, beaten
and had his leg fractured outside his home on his way
to a protest is support of the Jasmine Revolution.
Nobel Peace prize winner Liu Xiaobo is serving an 11
year prison sentence for helping draft Charter 08
calling for democratic freedoms; his family is under
house arrest as well. What can we in the US do to
assist human rights defenders in China? First, we must work to get our
own house in order. Unfortunately, the US has given
the world many examples of human rights violations,
especially in the last 10 years. We must demand
transparency and accountability for our own
government's human rights abuses. Without that, it is
unlikely other countries will take the US seriously
when it asks others to respect human rights. Second, we can insist that the US
government grow a spine and consistently apply
international human rights standards when we deal with
other countries. Most elected officials are concerned
about human rights obligations only in the countries
where they think US interests are at stake and then
human rights are all too frequently just bargaining
chips in the quest for economic and military
advantage. Third, we must take individual
actions to strengthen human rights and to protect
human rights defenders. The International Federation
for Human Rights has a Human Rights Defender program
which sends out alerts when human rights advocates are
at risk. People can also write the People's Republic
of China, c/o Embassy for the People's Republic of
China, 2300 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington DC
20008. Courageous people like Chen
Guangcheng and others should inspire us all to work
more diligently and take more risks for justice and
human rights in China, in the US, and in all
countries. Bill is Legal Director of the
Center for Constitutional Rights and law professor at
Loyola University New Orleans. Contact Bill at
quigley77@gmail.com Comments 💬 التعليقات |