blog – Page 2 – The China Corner by CSW

A family shattered for 24 years – the story of Falun Gong activist Fang Bin

2023-10-05

The disappearances of Fang Bin and other citizen journalists who reported the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan drew the attention of world media. People who are familiar with him hesitated in mentioning his faith background when calling for his release. Why? Being a Falun Gong human rights defender means double vulnerability, as shown by the story of Fang Bin and his wife.

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‘Worse than physical torture’ – how China uses exit bans to inflict suffering on human rights defenders and their loved ones

2023-08-30

Being blocked from leaving China by the authorities has become common under Xi Jinping’s rule. Jiang Tianyong, Guo Feixiong and Tang Jitian’s stories show how China uses exit bans to inflict suffering on human rights defenders and their loved ones.

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China, stop targeting overseas human rights defenders

2023-08-23

Lu Siwei is the latest name on a long list of Chinese nationals who have been disappeared in Southeast Asia, demonstrating the long reach of China’s authorities beyond its borders, often with the collusion of the authorities in these states, in a phenomenon known as transnational repression.

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‘The Yunnan Model’ could be an indicator that life is going to get even harder for religious and ethnic groups across China

2023-05-16

Yunnan is something of a testing ground for the management of religious and ethnic affairs in China. The ‘Yunnan model’ is a warning that the situation for religious and ethnic groups across the country could be about to get even worse.

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Disappointments at the UN, but we must not let the challenges obscure the good that it can achieve

2022-10-25

Earlier this month, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) voted to elect 14 new members to the Human Rights Council (HRC) to serve from 2023 to 2025. Among those elected were Sudan and Vietnam…The election of both of these states is deeply disappointing.

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After the UN’s allegations of crimes against humanity, the world must mobilise on China’s actions in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

2022-09-22

“More than two years have passed since my last blog, and there are hundreds of thousands of Kamils. Some have been ‘released’ to forced labour, many making cheap clothing for Western brands; others have been sentenced for spurious crimes in secret courts to draconian prison terms; others are still unaccounted for, and many have died.”

After the UN’s allegations of crimes against humanity, the world must mobilise on China’s actions in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Read More »

International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances – Stories from China

2022-09-01

Gao Zhisheng has been kidnapped, tortured and detained on and off by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime since 2006. In 2019, his wife Geng He told the International Service for Human Rights that being disappeared has become “the norm in his life”. In that same interview, she added, “My children and I have never experienced the

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‘I fear they will normalise this’ – Restrictions combine to make life even more difficult for religion and belief groups in China

2022-08-01

The COVID-19 pandemic has had profound effects on the functions of nearly every religion or belief group in every country in the world over the past two years. While many have now emerged from lockdowns and measures imposed to curb the spread of the virus are being lifted in most countries, arguably some of the strictest restrictions remain in the country where the virus was first detected: China.

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Uprooted and scattered: the story of Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church

2022-06-24

In 2019 dozens of church members from Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church made the momentous decision to leave their home country of China to seek safety and freedom overseas. Years of harassment, intimidation and police raids had convinced them that they had no choice but to flee. They settled in Jeju Island in South Korea, but their ordeal is far from over.

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Four years at the UN: Calling the world to action

2022-01-11

On 19 April 2017, CSW became the first organisation with a sole focus on freedom of religion or belief for all to be granted official United Nations accreditation. We have what is known as Consultative Status, thanks to our specialist expertise. Four years on, how have we made use of this valuable accreditation?

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