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Over 30 human rights organizations and NGOs on Monday urged the United Nations and governments worldwide to hold Chinese officials to account for the continued systemic repression of human rights lawyers.
The letter warned that as a result of the systemic crackdown on the legal profession, legal professionals’ and activists’ willingness to express their views has significantly declined, resulting in a chilling effect on opposition against government repression, crimes against humanity and human rights violations. In the joint statement, Amnesty International, among others, urged governments to “heed” the call by UN experts to counter this development by establishing a “dedicated mechanism to monitor and report on the human rights situation in China.”
Known as the “709 Crackdown,” dating back ten years, the Chinese government has arbitrarily repressed and prosecuted numerous legal practitioners and human rights activists, inflicting a form of collective punishment on regime-critical parts of the population.
Before the 2015 crackdown, legal professionals played a fundamental and tangible role in promoting adherence to international law and compliance with China’s basic constitutional rights, which, among other provisions, enshrines the principle of the rule of law in Article 5 and vows to protect human rights in Article 33. In a non-systematic manner, individuals such as renown lawyer Gao Zhisheng were targeted for expressing government-critical positions.
On July 9, 2015, the government undertook a nationwide effort to investigate and arrest around 300 legal professionals and activists, many of whom were prosecuted and received severe prison sentences or were forced to disappear from the public. For instance, lawyer Wang Quanzhang was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for the alleged “subversion of state power.” In the course of the crackdown, many were reportedly tortured and denied legal counsel.
In the wake of the prosecutions, the government introduced significant changes to the “Measures for the Administration of Law Firms” and the “Measures for the Administration of Practising Lawyers,” which tightened government oversight of firms, imposed more stringent conduct requirements and allowed for an easier revocation of law licenses. These changes led to 46 lawyers being sanctioned or having their licenses revoked.
In a letter to the Chinese government from Margaret Satterthwaite, an independent third-party investigator working for the UN, many of these issues were addressed and criticized and no response was recorded. In response to another request, concerning the alleged arbitrary detention of Yu Wensheng, who was detained in 2018 on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power” after publishing an open letter which recommended amendments to the constitution, the Chinese Mission to the UN commented that:
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The letter warned that as a result of the systemic crackdown on the legal profession, legal professionals’ and activists’ willingness to express their views has significantly declined, resulting in a chilling effect on opposition against government repression, crimes against humanity and human rights violations. In the joint statement, Amnesty International, among others, urged governments to “heed” the call by UN experts to counter this development by establishing a “dedicated mechanism to monitor and report on the human rights situation in China.”
Known as the “709 Crackdown,” dating back ten years, the Chinese government has arbitrarily repressed and prosecuted numerous legal practitioners and human rights activists, inflicting a form of collective punishment on regime-critical parts of the population.
Before the 2015 crackdown, legal professionals played a fundamental and tangible role in promoting adherence to international law and compliance with China’s basic constitutional rights, which, among other provisions, enshrines the principle of the rule of law in Article 5 and vows to protect human rights in Article 33. In a non-systematic manner, individuals such as renown lawyer Gao Zhisheng were targeted for expressing government-critical positions.
On July 9, 2015, the government undertook a nationwide effort to investigate and arrest around 300 legal professionals and activists, many of whom were prosecuted and received severe prison sentences or were forced to disappear from the public. For instance, lawyer Wang Quanzhang was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for the alleged “subversion of state power.” In the course of the crackdown, many were reportedly tortured and denied legal counsel.
In the wake of the prosecutions, the government introduced significant changes to the “Measures for the Administration of Law Firms” and the “Measures for the Administration of Practising Lawyers,” which tightened government oversight of firms, imposed more stringent conduct requirements and allowed for an easier revocation of law licenses. These changes led to 46 lawyers being sanctioned or having their licenses revoked.
In a letter to the Chinese government from Margaret Satterthwaite, an independent third-party investigator working for the UN, many of these issues were addressed and criticized and no response was recorded. In response to another request, concerning the alleged arbitrary detention of Yu Wensheng, who was detained in 2018 on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power” after publishing an open letter which recommended amendments to the constitution, the Chinese Mission to the UN commented that:
The post Human rights organizations call for investigation into China’s repression of lawyers appeared first on JURIST - News.
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Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.