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FACTS OF THE CASE:

In the past few months, the Chinese government has used arbitrary arrests and violence to quell protests by HIV-positive activists, who have been protesting the government for increased access to medical care and antiretroviral drug therapies.

China has one of the fastest growing HIV infection rates in the world. According to UNAIDS, the joint UN program on HIV/AIDS, at the end of 2001, there was an estimated 850,000 men, women, and children infected with HIV in China. One region of particular concern is the Henan Province, where AIDS activists and medical researchers uncovered a massive infection rate. The large scale infection rates were directly linked to state-run blood donation centers in the region. Throughout the 1990s, officials at the centers paid villagers in Henan for their blood donations. Selling their blood was the only way for many villagers to supplement their meager salaries. At many of these centers, blood dealers would illegally obtain the blood specimens and resell them at a higher rate. In the rush to maximize profits, safety precautions were largely ignored: needles were reused, medical equipment was not sterilized, and the blood was not tested for diseases. The result was a massive rate of cross infection, with many of the villages in the province reporting infection rates as high as 65%.

The Chinese government initially sought to cover up the blood donation scandal. The government banned international and Chinese journalists from reporting on the HIV epidemic and harassed doctors who sought to expose the dangerous blood collection practices and document the rate of infection. One clear example of this attempt to suppress information occurred in May 2001 when the government refused to grant the necessary travel documents to Dr. Gao Yaojie, a retired gynecologist and HIV/AIDS activist, who was scheduled to travel to Washington, DC to receive the Jonathan Mann Health and Human Rights award for her work documenting the Henan HIV crisis. (See AAASHRAN case ch0107_yga for more information.)

While the government has generally been more transparent about HIV infection rates and more open to international medical assistance in the past few years, there continues to be repression against local activists who are demanding a full investigation into the Henan blood collection scandal and greater and more equitable access to medical care. In the past few months, the government has arrested and, on some occasions, beaten HIV/AIDS protesters. On May 17, 100 AIDS patients protested official discrimination against HIV-positive patients during the World Health Organization’s (WHO) investigation of the SARS outbreak in a Wenlou village hospital. Police severely beat one of the protesters. In mid-June, five HIV-positive individuals from Xiongqiao, a village with a high rate of infection, attempted to present a petition to officials in Zhengzhou city that protested the lack of health care in their village. Police seized the villagers and forcibly returned them to their village. One detainee was subsequently released because he was seriously ill. On June 22, hundreds of Henan police officers raided Xiongqiao and arrested thirteen residents who had allegedly participated in protests calling for better medical care. According to reports in the media, officials indiscriminately beat other residents.

The Director of Human Rights Watch’s HIV/AIDS and Human Rights Program, Joanne Csete, recently stated: “Persecuting HIV-positive protestors is doubly outrageous given that the state was complicit in their infection in the first place. Henan authorities seem to want to sweep their role in the AIDS epidemic under the rug by silencing protestors.”

The government is violating the protesters’ right to freedom of expression, which is protected under international human rights standards, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which China signed on 5 October 1998, signifying the nation’s intention to comply with its provisions and to work for its ratification. In addition, China has obligations to ensure the conditions for the full realization of its citizens’ right to health under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

(Sources of information for this case include: Human Rights Watch and UNAIDS)

RELEVANT HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

• Article 19(1): Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

• Article 12: (1): The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. (2): The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for: (c) The prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases; (d) The creation of conditions which would assure to all medical service and medical attention in the event of sickness.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• Article 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

APPEAL AND INQUIRY MESSAGES SHOULD BE SENT TO:

Jiang Zemin
President
Beijinshi
Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo
People's Republic of China
Salutation: Your Excellency:

Zhang Fusen Buzhang
Minister of Justice of the People's Republic of China
Sifabu
10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie, Chaoyangqu
Beijingshi 100020
People's Republic of China
Fax: 011 86 10 65 292345
Salutation: Your Excellency:

COPIES SENT TO:

Ambassador Yang Jiechi
Ambassador of the People's Republic of China
Embassy of the People's Republic of China
2300 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 328 2582
chinaembassy_us@fmprc.gov.cn
Salutation: Dear Mr. Ambassador

Please send copies of your appeals, and any responses you may receive, or direct any questions you may have to Victoria Baxter, AAAS Science and Human Rights Program, 1200 New York Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20005; tel. 202-326-6797; email vbaxter@aaas.org; or fax 202-289-4950.

The keys to effective appeals are to be courteous and respectful, accurate and precise, impartial in approach, and as specific as possible regarding the alleged violation and the international human rights standards and instruments that apply to the situation. Reference to your scientific organization and professional affiliation is always helpful.

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