Press Releases

CSW is calling for the release of five Christians who have been detained in a rural area in China’s southwestern Yunnan province, near the border with Myanmar, since early August.

A long-awaited report by the outgoing UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has alleged that the widespread arbitrary detention of Uyghurs, Kazakhs and members of other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) may amount to crimes against humanity.

On 14 August, a group of more than 50 Christians were meeting at a teahouse in the Wuhou district of Chengdu in Southwestern province of Sichuan for Sunday worship, when around 30 uniformed and plain clothes police officers raided the place. Announcing that the gathering was “illegal”, the officials locked…

Officials in Zhaotong city, Yunnan province, demolished the domes and minarets of Baoshan Mosque, a prominent local mosque, on 11 June. According to a source familiar with the situation, parts of the Baoshan mosque were demolished despite protests from the local Hui Muslim community.

Human rights defenders, activist groups and survivors of human rights violations in China and across the world have expressed their anger, frustration and disappointment at the failure of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to condemn human rights violations perpetrated by the Chinese authorities following her visit to…

On 4 June 2022, people around the world, including many Chinese activists and religious communities, will gather to remember the victims of the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989. They will do so amid ongoing reports of grave human rights violations in the country.

A BBC investigation revealing further details of the mass detention of Uyghurs in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) was published on 24 May, as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights continues her six-day visit to China. More than 5,000 police photographs of Uyghurs taken between January and July 2018,…

CSW has called on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to raise violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) with the Chinese authorities as a matter of urgency during her visit to China from 23-28 May.

The former bishop of Hong Kong, Cardinal Joseph Zen, was reportedly arrested on 11 May and released on bail after being questioned for a number of hours. The Vatican stated that it was following developments “with extreme attention” in a statement issued on the same day.

Independent house church leader Pastor Hao Zhiwei has been sentenced to eight years on ‘fraud’ charges by the authorities in Ezhou in China’s central Hubei province. At least ten leaders and co-workers from four unregistered Protestant churches were arrested in 2021 and are facing similar charges.