Report Says #China Invites #UN Official to #Xinjiang but Bans Investigating #HumanRights Issues

According to South China Morning Post (#SCMP) on #Jan27 2022, China allows the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, to visit Xinjiang after the Winter Olympics; however, China does not allow Bachelet to investigate on human rights violation issues, causing United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (#UNHCR) to postpone their Xinjiang report publication date to after the Olympic Games.

China's Foreign Affairs Minister, #ZhaoLijian, claimed that China's stand is "consistent and clear": "The invitation aims to enhance the interactions and collaborations between the 2 parties. We oppose anyone to take advantage of political manipulation."

Human Rights Watch told #Reuter on #Jan28 that the Chinese government tries to distract the world with the winter Olympics from their inhumane crimes on #Uyghurs and other #Turkistan. They also reminded everyone, especially foreign affairs ministers, not to be fooled.

#HumanRightwWatch #MichelleBachelet

Source: RFA #Jan28
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/un-visit-01282022053808.html

#WinterOlympics #HumanRights #Shame
Natalie Geisenberger: I’d never returned to China

#NatalieGeisenberger #Luge #IOC #LGBT

Source: Deutsche Welle; #Feb17

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#WinterOlympics #HumanRights #Shame
Natalie Geisenberger: I’d never returned to China

#NatalieGeisenberger, Germany’s #luge champion who took home a sixth gold medal at #WinterOlympic Games this year. She went to Beijing having previously criticised China and even considered boycotting.

“When there’s #HumanRights and the country’s stance on #LGBT, those issues should be taken into consideration by the #IOC (in selecting host nations).”

Geisenberger refused to speak about the human rights issue during the Games.

“You have to be careful when you say what, and where you say it, and I think many are feeling this way. Here on location, I think it’s better not to say too much,” she said on February 8.

Having now returned to Germany, she told newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung that she will never return to China.

“It’s just not a holiday destination for me, and I wouldn’t go to China for a World Cup either,” Geisenberger continued saying, “it has nothing to do with the pandemic. I wasn’t there because I really wanted to go to China, but because the IOC decided that the Olympic Games would take place in Beijing.

Source: Deutsche Welle; #Feb17
https://p.dw.com/p/47AoV

Winter Olympic Athletes Were Surprisingly Reluctant to Speak

German luger Natalie Geisenberger, who was critical of China, when asked about her view on China's human rights issues a day after earning a gold medal, said peaking out was a matter of timing. "You have to be careful when you say what and where you say it", she said.

To her self-censorship, some netizens said it is unbearable

What China is trying to show the world through this Olympics? Alain Frachon, a French columnist for Le Monde, believes that "President Xi Jinping's China has proven that it is imposing its standards of civil liberties - on Chinese nationals and foreigners. In the ideological battle, the West is not on the podium."

Advertisers and multinational enterprises have been warned that no representatives of theirs can publicly speak out on Xinjiang or Hong Kong's human rights issues, not even in a few words tweets, or they will face heavy retaliation.

#NatalieGeisenberger #LeMonde #AlainFrachon #WinterOlympic #SelfCensorship #HumanRights #HongKong #Xinjiang

Source: RFI #Feb11

https://www.rfi.fr/tw/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B/20220211-%E5%8C%97%E4%BA%AC%E5%86%AC%E5%A5%A7%E6%9C%83%E5%B0%81%E5%98%B4%E7%AD%96%E7%95%A5%E5%A5%8F%E6%95%88?ref=fb_i

Yale to begin investigating potential Chinese investments in light of human rights concerns

The committee that recommends areas for divestment to Yale’s board of trustees will begin investigating companies in China to determine whether some may be deemed ineligible for Yale investment in light of the Chinese government’s widespread human rights violations.

Source: Yale Daily News #Jan26

https://t.co/4RyX8gYkg3

#Yale #Investigate #Chinese #HumanRights

#StandwithUkraine #HumanRights
UN boots Russia from UN Human Rights Council over Ukraine invasion

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on April 7, 2022 calling for Russia to be suspended from the Human Rights Council. 

The resolution received a two-thirds majority of those voting in the 193-member Assembly, with 93 nations voting in favour. 58 abstained from the process. 

Russia, China, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Syria, Vietnam, were among the 24 countries voted against. 

The meeting marked the resumption of a special emergency session on the war in Ukraine and followed reports of violations committed by Russian forces. 

This past weekend, disturbing photos emerged from the city of Bucha, a suburb of the capital, Kyiv, where hundreds of civilian bodies were found in the streets and in mass graves following Russia’s withdrawal from the area. 

Source: United Nations; #Apr7
https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/04/1115782

#HumanRights #WhiteTerror
Hong Kong’s Human Rights Press Awards cancelled, citing legal risks

Source: Hong Kong Free Press

#PressFreedom

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#HumanRights #WhiteTerror
Hong Kong’s Human Rights Press Awards cancelled, citing legal risks

Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club (#FCC) has cancelled this year’s Human Rights Press Awards, citing “significant areas of uncertainty” under the law.

In a statement emailed to members on Monday, club president Keith Richburg said the FCC board met on Saturday and “after a lengthy discussion, regretfully decided to suspend the Human Rights Press Awards pending further review.”
The winners of the Human Rights Press Awards were expected to be announced on May 3, which is also World Press Freedom Day.

“Over the last two years, journalists in Hong Kong have been operating under new ‘red lines’ on what is and is not permissible, but there remain significant areas of uncertainty and we do not wish unintentionally to violate the law,” Richburg wrote. “This is the context in which we decided to suspend the Awards.”

“I know this is an unusual step to take so late in the process, just weeks before we were set to announce the winners,” he added.

According to FCC's website, “The Human Rights Press Awards recognise top rights-related reporting from around Asia, with the goal of increasing respect for people’s basic rights and focusing attention on threats to those freedoms.”

Since the onset of Hong Kong’s national security law in 2020, two of the city’s newsrooms have been raided and their top editors arrested, as press freedom NGOs have sounded the alarm. #AppleDaily, #StandNews and #CitizenNews are among the outlets that have shuttered.

Full article:
https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/25/breaking-hong-kongs-human-rights-press-awards-cancelled/

Source: Hong Kong Free Press

#PressFreedom #HumanRights #WhiteTerror

#Oppression #FailedState
Hong Kong law firm Vidler & Co, which handled protest-related cases announced closure after 19 years

Sources: Ming Pao, Chaser News

#HumanRights #HKLegalSystem #NationalSecurityLaw

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#PressFreedom #Censorship
Why the days of Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club may be numbered

//I fear the days of the FCC itself are numbered. ...//

// The end could happen suddenly, given the news on Monday [Ed. April 25] that the club had cancelled its annual Human Rights Press Awards because of the “red lines” China has drawn on what is permissible to be published and the club’s fear the awards could inadvertently cross into dangerous territory for the club, its members, and participants in the awards. //

Read full article
https://hongkongfp.com/2022/05/01/why-the-days-of-hong-kongs-foreign-correspondents-club-may-be-numbered/

#FCC #RedLine #HumanRights #WhiteTerror

#HumanRights #Audit
UK Government urged to carry out audit of assets of Hong Kong and China officials linked to Human Rights violation

//A group of 110 MPs has written to Foreign Secretary Liz Truss calling for the audit after recent research by human rights NGO Hong Kong Watch found nine Hong Kong officials and 12 "patriotic" politicians accused of complicity in human rights violations in the city have property overseas.

This includes five Hong Kong officials and six politicians who own property in the UK.//

Read full article:
https://t.co/JZBQU89VXf

#NationalSecurityLaw

Source: Sky News; #May28

Mourning a Painful History – Respect For Human Rights Has No Geopolitical Borders

By Translated by Guardians of Hong Kong October 17, 2021 • 1 February 2022

The year 2021 marked the 32nd anniversary of the June 4th crackdown in Tiananmen Square. However commemorative activities in Hong Kong were unprecedentedly suppressed. Not only the candlelight vigil was banned for the second consecutive year, but also 26 pan-democrats attending the vigil the year before despite the ban were charged [added in translation: for inciting others to take part in unauthorized assembly] and even jailed. Looking back in history, be it war crimes or state violence, in many instances to hold those accountable for human rights infringements and to bring justice to the victims will take years or even generations.

Source: The Stand News #Oct11

#June4th #HumanRights #ChunDooHwan

Full Story：

https://telegra.ph/Mourning-a-Painful-History--Respect-For-Human-Rights-Has-No-Geopolitical-Borders-02-01

#UN rights chief falls under wheels of China's propaganda machine

Beijing's propaganda machine has outwitted the UN human rights chief on her visit to China, campaigners say, leaving the envoy accused of playing a role in whitewashing abuses against minorities in Xinjiang.

"She must have the political courage and integrity to speak out when her words and her visit are being distorted," said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute. "If she is not prepared and able to do so, she should not visit."

Michelle Bachelet's long-planned trip in late May has taken her to the far-western region where Beijing is accused of imprisoning over one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, forcibly sterlising women and running labour camps that fuel global supply chains.

The United States and multiple western lawmakers have labelled the actions a "genocide", allegations vehemently denied by China which says it has only conducted necessary security operations to squash extremism and beef up development.

Bachelet has come under fire from rights groups and Uyghurs overseas, who say she has been suckered into a slickly choreographed Communist Party tour including a conversation with President Xi Jinping later portrayed in state media as a mutual endorsement of China's high ideals on rights.

It is "as clear as day" that China has so far used the visit "to promote its own narrative and defend its poor human rights record", said Alkan Akad, a China researcher at Amnesty.

The goal is "to show the world that it can bend a top UN human rights official -- and thus the very concept of human rights -- to its will," said Maya Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch.

London-based Uyghur activist Rahima Mahmut slammed the visit as "window dressing".

"This is not the neutral, independent, unfettered investigation that we were promised," she told AFP.

Instead, Beijing was seeking "a free pass to continue carrying out repression, surveillance, torture and genocide against communities like mine", she added.

The hard details of what Bachelet saw and who she met during the visit have been largely withheld on a trip carried out in a "closed loop" by order of Beijing, ostensibly due to Covid risks.

China has filled the information vacuum, with state media running gleeful readouts of meetings between her and Xi as well as foreign minster Wang Yi.

They reported that Bachelet said she "admired China's efforts and achievements in ... protecting human rights" during the virtual call with Xi.

A spokesperson for Bachelet did not confirm whether the reports were accurate when contacted by AFP, instead saying the UN would not publish readouts of bilateral meetings.

A later, hurried "clarification" by the UN stopped short of denying that she had praised China's rights record. But neither side mentioned Xinjiang in their readouts.

Norway-based Uyghur activist Abduweli Ayup said he was "disappointed" that Bachelet had appeared to allow Beijing to "misinterpret" her words.
"They have already used (her) for propaganda," he told AFP.

Read the full article:
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220527-un-rights-chief-falls-under-wheels-of-china-s-propaganda-machine

Source: France 24 #May27

#Uyghur #Genocide #UN #HumanRights #CCPPropaganda

#UN rights committee seeks assurances hearing participants from Hong Kong won’t be targeted under security law

//The #UnitedNations #HumanRightsCommittee on Thursday began reviewing Hong Kong’s rights record for the first time since Beijing imposed its #nationalsecuritylaw, amid questions about whether groups making submissions to the meeting could fall foul of the legislation.

Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs #ErickTsang and several other top officials attended the meeting in Geneva via video link. In his opening speech, which lasted just under 20 minutes, Tsang said the government had done much to protect #humanrights in Hong Kong.

He also cited Chinese leader #XiJinping as saying the One Country, Two Systems policy has been working well, adding it was recognised by 1.4 billion Chinese people and the international community...

The UN Committee members, however, were not convinced the security law offered sufficient protections for people’s rights and freedoms.

“I note, honourable secretary, your comment about the events that precipitated this law, but I must observe that it was done overnight, without consultation, and bypassing the local legislature,” the committee’s vice chair Christopher Arif Bulkan said.

Another vice chair, Shuichi Furuya from Japan, expressed concern at the overarching nature and broad scope of the legislation. He said the committee had received reports about organisations overseas being requested by Hong Kong authorities to remove content that may be in violation of it....

The meeting of the committee of 18 international experts will continue on Friday and next Tuesday, while a closing session will take place on July 22, 2022.//

Read the full article:
https://hongkongfp.com/2022/07/07/un-committee-starts-first-review-of-hong-kong-human-rights-since-security-law/

Source: Hong Kong Free Press #Jul7

#NSL #FailedState #UnitedNations

#Save12
Chinese Prison Penalises Hongkonger for "Failing" Mindset, Lawyer: May Loss Communication Right

#TangKaiYin, one of the 12 pro-democracy Hongkongers who tried to flee to Taiwan but was captured by the Chinese authorities, is serving a prison sentence in Conghua in China.

His family in Hong Kong said they had not received any letters from him since February, 2022, and he did not collect letters sent to him.

Tang's brother checked the prison's online system yesterday and found that Tang still has a few transactions in June and July, 2021. But his prison score was deducted twice for "violating the rule," including "failing to pass the ideological, cultural and technical learning assessment for that month."

A China human rights lawyer, who has assisted these 12 Hongkongers, told #InMedia that prisoners who are not willing to plead guilty or "accept the mind conversion" might be forbidden from receiving letters and may be further deprived of consumption or communication rights.

According to the lawyer's analysis, not receiving letters, in this case, may not be related to plead of guilt, as Tang had already been sentenced earlier. It is more likely because he doesn't change his mind, "something like indoctrination, perhaps some kind of non-cooperation," he said.

In addition, prisoners sent to prison hospitals due to illness or physical punishment would not be allowed to receive or write letters, "It is also possible that he cannot write letters because of his health condition," the lawyer explained.

Source: InMedia #Jul28
https://bit.ly/3Jcs6mL

#12Hongkongers #China #PoliticalPrisoner #PoliceState #HumanRights #ThoughtPolice

UK-Based HongKonger's Groups Criticised pro-Beijing Organisations Cleansing the National Security Law with Human-sea Tactics

The 73rd Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Conference will be held within 2 weeks. UK-based HongKongers organisations found that many pro-Beijing organisations submit reports to this conference, strongly promoting the National Security Law (#NSL). They intended to rationalise the fact of Beijing’s corrosion to the rights in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Scots, a UK-based HongKongers’ organisation, indicated that Beijing utilised Human-sea tactic after being criticised in the United Nations Commission on Human Rights last year to promote the suppression of Hong Kong people in the United Nations. As the submitted content from various groups of people is similar, it is suspected to interfere with the trial of Hong Kong Human Rights in the United Nations, demonstrating “head count takes over the truth with limited evidence”.

#UnitedNation #UN #NationalSecurityLaw #HumanRights #HongKongScots

Source: The Chaser News #Feb01

https://www.patreon.com/posts/78007112

Human Rights Organisation's Report Shows Hong Kong Ranked 4th Last

Source: The Chaser News #Jun22

#HumanRightsMeasurementInitiative #CivilRights #PoliticalRights #YangXiaoguang #ForeignAffairsMinistry #UnitedNations #UN #HumanRights

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Human Rights Organisation's Report Shows Hong Kong Ranked 4th Last

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative (#HRMI), an international organisation based in #NewZealand, published the 2022 Human Rights Report on June 21, assessing the civil and political rights in 30 districts.

The overall score of Hong Kong's "Empowerment" (which relates to general freedoms for citizens) slightly increased from 2021. Yet, it is still fourth last, while mainland China remains at the bottom of the ranking.

Meanwhile, the Special Representative of the Human Rights Department under China's Foreign Affairs Ministry, Yang Xiaoguang, attended the United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday (Jun 21), strongly criticising the UK, Australia and other countries and "anti-China organisations" for slandering China and repeating lies on the issues in #HongKong, #Xinjiang and #Tibet. He even claimed the development of human rights in Xinjiang and Tibet is "in the best period in history".

Source: The Chaser News #Jun22

https://bit.ly/43j1GrS

#HumanRightsMeasurementInitiative #CivilRights #PoliticalRights #YangXiaoguang #ForeignAffairsMinistry #UnitedNations #UN #HumanRights

"Perfected" District Council Election Will Be Held on 10 December, Same Day as International Human Rights Day

#HumanRights #InternationHumanRightsDay #CivilHumanRightFront #DistrictCouncilElection

Source: Inmedia #Jul24

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"Perfected" District Council Election Will Be Held on 10 December, Same Day as International Human Rights Day

On July 24, the government announced that the first District Council Election since its "perfection" will be held on #Dec10 this year, the same day as the International Human Rights Day. The nomination period for the District Councillor sector and Geographical Constituency Candidates is between Oct 17 and 30.

This election will be the first time since the hangover that the district council election is held in December. According to records, previous district council elections were all scheduled in November. The last one held was on Nov 24, 2019, during the height of the #AntiELAB movement. The International Human Rights Day was on Dec 8 that year, when the Civil Human Rights Front held a demonstration with 800,000 participants.

The number of directly-elected District Council seats has been drastically reduced since the government amended the election ordinance on July 6. Previously, 452 seats were directly elected by voters; the upcoming election will have only 88, less than 20% of the total 470 seats. 355 of the remaining seats will be either directly appointed by the Chief Executive, or chosen by government-established committees. Pro-Beijing officials often lauded this rule change as "perfecting" the city's electoral system.

#HumanRights #InternationHumanRightsDay #CivilHumanRightFront #DistrictCouncilElection

Source: Inmedia #Jul24

https://bit.ly/44Z5yj6