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Xu Zhiyong
“Always wanting to go against the course of history—that is your biggest problem”
Prominent rights advocate Xu Zhiyong was taken away by police in Guangzhou on Saturday, February 15, 2020. He was a founder of Gongmeng, Open Constitution Initiative, a legal research an aid organization that was shut down by the authorities in 2009, and a leading advocate of the New Citizens’ Movement, which advocated for the protection of rights of citizens through nonviolent means. He served four years in prison but has continued to speak out since his release in 2017. He was one of the participants in a private gathering in Xiamen in early December 2019, where lawyers and other right advocates shared ideas about promoting the growth of a civil society in China. In late December, the authorities detained, summoned, or disappeared more than 20 attendees (some were subsequently released), and Xu went into hiding. On February 4, 2020, Xu published “Admonition to Resign,” an essay urging President Xi Jinping to step down, in which he cites Xi’s incompetence in governing and attempts at covering the truth of the coronavirus outbreak. The quote above, “Always wanting to go against the course of history—that is your biggest problem,” is taken from this essay.
New and Recent
Media
An Appeal to the Beijing Municipal Government to Launch Urgent Mechanism to Protect Lawyer Yu Wensheng, a Beijing Resident
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Xu Yan ( 许艳 ) , the wife of Beijing lawyer Yu Wensheng ( 余文生 ) , sends a letter to the Mayor of Beijing, seven Deputy Mayors, and the Chief Secretary of the municipal government, appealing to them, on whom the people depend for their livelihood, to immediately launch a mechanism for protecting and...
March 15, 2020
Citizens' Square
Yu Wensheng
Xi Jinping Owes an Apology to the Chinese People and the World
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In the beginning of March, “A Battle against Epidemic,” a book whose publication had been trumpeted by the propaganda machine of the Communist Party of China just days earlier, was hastily withdrawn even before its release. Many thought, therefore, that there is a limit to the CPC’s shamelessness...
March 6, 2020
Guest Commentary
Hu Ping
Xi Jinping is the Culprit of the Wuhan Epidemic
No one had expected that the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan more than a month ago would quickly turn into the disaster of the century, spreading across China and to the world. The authorities first covered up the epidemic, created a flourishing scene of happiness and prosperity,...
February 27, 2020
HRIC Commentary
Gao Wenqian
Talking Out of Both Sides of the Face Mask: Propaganda and Practice in the Age of Coronavirus
As the grip of the coronavirus continues to tighten , local governments are at the forefront of efforts to implement ever-stricter regulations aimed at stopping the epidemic in its tracks. Just this week, for example, the Zhangwan District of Shiyan City in Hubei Province issued a notice on...
February 14, 2020
HRIC Commentary
Emergency Notice from Zhangwan District on Implementing Districtwide Wartime Management and Control
This notice from the Zhangwan District of Shiyan City in Hubei Province, approximately 300 miles from Wuhan, with a population of 410,000 in the district, was posted on the website of Shiyan City at a little after 9:00 p.m. on February 12, 2020, announcing “Wartime Management and Control” beginning...
February 12, 2020
Citizens' Square
Wuhan Police’s Reprimand of Coronavirus Whistleblower Dr. Li Wenliang
On the afternoon of December 30, 2019, Dr. Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at the Wuhan Central Hospital, posted two messages in a Wechat group of his medical school classmates: “Seven cases of SARS were diagnosed connection with Huanan Fruit and Seafood Market” and “The latest news is that the...
February 6, 2020
Citizens' Square
  • Luo Huining. Photo: Handout
Luo Huining’s Mission Impossible
[Translation by Human Rights in China] Just as the New Year begins, a long-simmering rumor of Beijing replacing the chief of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has finally been confirmed. Why would Beijing change horses at this...
January 8, 2020
HRIC Commentary
World’s Top Human Rights Official Must Uphold Her Mandate and Press for Human Rights Protection for the People of Hong Kong
HRIC is deeply concerned about the statement by the spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) during a briefing on November 19, 2019, that castigated the “extreme violence” committed by young protesters in Hong Kong, “including against the police force.” While...
November 22, 2019
Statement
Hong Kong SAR Government Must Ensure Effective De-escalation of Dangerous Police Action at PolyU
HRIC condemns the Hong Kong police’s actions on and around the campus of Hong Kong Polytechnic University after trapping students, journalists, and first aiders , and reportedly handcuffing the latter group. Video footage circulating online of scenes from early morning November 18, Hong Kong time,...
November 17, 2019
HRIC Bulletin
HRIC Translation: China’s Follow-up Response to UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
In August 2018, China underwent a periodic review by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on the country’s implementation of obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD). Among the key topics of the Committee’...
October 30, 2019
HRIC Bulletin
NGOs from Over 100 Countries Support the People of Hong Kong
At its congress in Taipei, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), a global federation of 192 human rights member organizations from more than 100 countries, unanimously approved an urgent resolution (full text below) supporting the Hong Kong people’s protests calling for government...
October 24, 2019
HRIC Bulletin
FIDH Urgent Resolution on the Human Rights Situation in Hong Kong
FIDH 40 th Congress – Taipei, Taiwan FIDH Urgent Resolution on the Human Rights Situation in Hong Kong Sponsored by Human Rights in China (HRIC) and the Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) Delegates gathered at the FIDH 40 th Congress, Recognizing that over the past four months, diverse...
October 24, 2019
Joint Statements
The People's Republic of China at 70: The Final Insanity
The military parade and celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China have finally ended. As the boss of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping can finally breathe a sigh of relief. He managed to break the “Russell’s curse” that had haunted the CPC,...
October 7, 2019
HRIC Commentary
Gao Wenqian
2019-2020 Hong Kong Protests Timeline

A timeline of the developments surrounding the extradition amendments introduced by the Hong Kong SAR government, which triggered a series of mass demonstrations, including a march of an estimated two million people on June 16, 2019, the largest in Hong Kong’s history.

Naked Police Violence in Hong Kong as Beijing Celebrates National Day
As Beijing mounted a tightly choreographed spectacle of tanks, bombers, and missiles, with a march of 15,000 soldiers, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, a police officer in Hong Kong shot a teenage demonstrator in the chest at close range. While...
October 1, 2019
HRIC Bulletin
CECC Hearing: “Hong Kong’s Summer of Discontent and U.S. Policy Responses”
On September 17, HRIC Executive Director Sharon Hom joined three Hong Kong activists and a U.S.-based security expert in testimony before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China in a high-profile, and widely-reported hearing, “ Hong Kong’s Summer of Discontent and U.S. Policy Responses...
September 19, 2019
HRIC Bulletin

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Dr. Li Wenliang

The death of Dr. Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at the Wuhan Central Hospital, ignited an outpouring of calls for freedom of speech among citizens of China. On December 30, Dr. Li posted two messages in his social media chat group: “The latest news is that the coronavirus infection has been confirmed and the virus type is being identified.” Four days later, Wuhan police forced him to sign a “reprimand” for making “untrue statements.” Dr. Li succumbed to the infection on February 7, 2020. Just days before his death, in an interview with Caixin, Dr. Li said: “A healthy society should not have only one kind of voice” (一个健康的社会不该只有一种声音).

“To remember is to resist”
Sharon Hom remarks at 61st anniversary of Tibetan National Uprising Day, March 10, 2020
2019-2020 Hong Kong Protests Timeline
Updated on March 10, 2020
Photo credit: Studio Incendo
Human Rights in Hong Kong, Nov. 18, 2019
Presented by Bernstein Institute for Human Rights (NYU Law)
Sharon Hom on The Pulse (RTHK) Nov. 2, 2019
Host: Steve Vines

Full interview (17 mins)
Podcast

“Hong Kong’s Summer of Discontent and U.S. Policy Responses”
A CECC hearing (livestream)

 
Tuesday, September 17, 2019 - 10:00am to 12:00pm

Witnesses:

  • Joshua Wong: Secretary-General, Demosistō and “Umbrella Movement” Leader
  • Denise Ho: Pro-democracy Activist and Cantopop Singer and Actress
  • Sunny Cheung: Spokesperson, Hong Kong Higher Education International Affairs Delegation (HKIAD)
  • Sharon Hom: Executive Director, Human Rights in China and Professor of Law Emerita, City University of New York
  • Dan Garrett, PhD: Author, Counter-hegemonic Resistance in China’s Hong Kong: Visualizing Protest in the City (2014)
Hong Kong’s protests: The political bill for impunity must be paid sooner or later
Sharon Hom in HKFP: August 7, 2019

A letter to Hong Kong’s Carrie Lam: if not to your own conscience, you will be held accountable by history
Sharon Hom in HKFP: July 27, 2019

HRIC Daily Brief