AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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AAAS Human Rights Action Network

FACTS OF THE CASE:

On 8 August 2004, local authorities reportedly detained and attacked two prominent HIV/AIDS activists from China's Henan Province. Wan Yanhai, the director of the AIZHI Action Project in Beijing, received reports that the two activists were traveling to a local Henan village where they were planning a protest of the government's AIDS policy. Before reaching the community, authorities reportedly attacked and detained both men and took them to an undisclosed location. One of the men was later released, but he reports that his colleague Li Dan remains missing and is possibly still detained.

The Chinese government has used arbitrary arrests and violence to quell protests by HIV-positive activists, who have been demanding the government increase access to medical care and antiretroviral drug therapies. China has one of the fastest growing HIV infection rates in the world with an estimated 850,000 men, women, and children infected. Henan Province is one of the worst areas for the epidemic. The large scale infection rates are linked to state-run blood donation centers in the region that operated throughout the 1990s. For the mostly-poor Henan residents, selling their blood to the donation centers was the only way to supplement their meager salaries. The centers were not adequately regulated and safety precautions were largely ignored: needles were reused, medical equipment was not sterilized, and the blood was not tested. The result was a massive rate of cross infection, with some 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. Officials restricted 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 HIV infection. In the last few years, the government has arrested and, on some occasions, beaten HIV/AIDS protesters. The Director of Human Rights Watch’s HIV/AIDS and Human Rights Program, Joanne Csete, 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 HIV/AIDS activists' 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, UNAIDS, and Voice of America news.)

RELEVANT HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

• Article 19(1): Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.
• Article 13: An alien lawfully in the territory of a State Party to the present Covenant may be expelled therefrom only in pursuance of a decision reached in accordance with law and shall, except where compelling reasons of national security otherwise require, be allowed to submit the reasons against his expulsion and to have his case reviewed by, and be represented for the purpose before, the competent authority or a person or persons especially designated by the competent authority.

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.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Please send faxes, letters, or emails:

• Requesting the immediate and unconditional release of HIV/AIDS activist Li Dan who was reportedly beaten up and detained by government officials;
• Calling for an immediate end to arbitrary detentions and physical violence used against HIV/AIDS protesters in China and requesting that the government respect their rights to freedom of expression and access to medical care; and
• Requesting that the State Council conduct an independent and credible investigation of the Henan blood scandal and the alleged mismanagement of state AIDS funds in the province and that the government hold those responsible to account.

APPEAL AND INQUIRY MESSAGES SHOULD BE SENT TO:

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.

To ensure that appeals are current and credible, please do not continue to write appeals on this case after 90 days from the date of the posting unless an update has been issued.

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