Press Releases

The National People’s Congress Standing Committee, China’s highest legislative body, has passed a new national security law for Hong Kong amid grave human rights concerns raised by activists and residents. Religious communities in the city, as well as the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, have also expressed concerns about…

CSW has welcomed a joint statement signed by 50 United Nations (UN) Independent Experts calling on the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) to take urgent action to monitor human rights violations in China. In the statement, issued on 26 June, the experts claim “it is time for renewed attention on…

Uyghur groups have welcomed the signing into law of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 by US President Donald Trump on 17 June. The Act authorises sanctions against Chinese officials deemed responsible for the mass arbitrary detention of ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

Xiamen city authorities destroyed property and parts of a building belonging to Xingguang Church on 11 June in the second raid on the church in just over a month, according to an open statement by a Chinese pastor on social media. Authorities had previously shut down a Sunday service at…

In a video statement to mark the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in China on 4 June 2020, CSW’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas says: “CSW, together with organisations and individuals around the world, will be remembering this event and standing in solidarity with family members of victims who…

Authorities in China’s Xiamen shut down a Sunday service at Xingguang Church on 3 May, injuring several church members and damaging property during the process. Witnesses report that police violently dispersed church members, removing those who resisted by force. One church member sustained several significant injuries, including two fractured ribs….

Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang was released from prison on 5 April 2020 and immediately placed into quarantine for 14 days, hundreds of kilometres from his family.

A new report by CSW on the situation of oppressed religious communities in China is released today amid concerns that some of these groups are especially vulnerable to the spread of the coronavirus and its wider impact on freedoms in China. The report, entitled ‘Repressed, Removed, Re-Educated: The stranglehold on…

On 1 February new administrative regulations came into effect in China, which set out measures on the structure and function of religious organisations, as well as supervision and administration by the authorities. According to a translation by Bitter Winter, Article 5 states that “Religious organizations must support the leadership of…

The period between Christmas and New Year saw further human rights violations against religious communities, activists and lawyers in China, including arbitrary detention, harassment and restrictions on religious activities. On 26 December, Pastor Wang Yi, who leads the Early Rain Church in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China, was sentenced to nine years…