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International Olympic Committee Should Help Secure Peng Shuai’s Safety

“We have taken a very human and person-centred approach to her situation,” the International Olympics Committee (IOC) said in a December 2 statement, revealing it had held a second closed call with Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai. Meanwhile, Peng has…
Two men speak to each other while seated
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Sport & Rights Alliance Calls on the IOC To Put People Before Partnerships

(Nyon, Switzerland) – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) should immediately stop supporting China’s strategy of suppression and start prioritizing protecting athletes and upholding its human rights obligations, the Sport & Rights…
A woman in athletic wear holding a tennis racket
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How a Public Good Became a Tool of Personal Power

(New York) – The Chinese Communist Party does not usually air its dirty laundry in public. So it was an ominous sign last month when official Chinese media reported startling allegations against a disgraced senior police official: Sun Lijun, a former…
Macao Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng, left, reads his oath of office in front of Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the inauguration ceremony in Macao, December 20, 2019.
News

Israel, Like China, Has Weaponized Surveillance Technology to Suppress Peaceful Dissent

Tech-enabled control of a persecuted population. Abusive facial recognition. Severe restrictions on movement. Branding peaceful dissent as “terrorism”. For many readers, the scenario brings to mind China’s mass human rights violations against…
A display shows surveillance technology capable of analyzing body motion for specific actions like fighting, theft or fall during Security China 2018 in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018.
News

Olympic Committee’s Call with Chinese Tennis Star Disregards Safety Concerns

(New York) – The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) collaboration with Chinese authorities on tennis star Peng Shuai’s reappearance undermines its expressed commitment to human rights, including the rights and safety of athletes, Human Rights…
Peng Shuai waves at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia on January 15, 2019. 
News

Peng Shuai Hasn’t Been Seen in Public Since November 2

Three-time Olympian Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai is missing. The hashtag #WhereIsPengShuai is trending globally, and world tennis champions Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams, and Novak Djokovic voiced fears about the 35-year-old star’s whereabouts.…
A woman in athletic wear holding a tennis racket
News

Authorities Arbitrarily Target Media and Critics

I first met Lotfi Hajji some 15 years ago, after Tunisian authorities under President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali had refused a request by Al Jazeera, the Qatar-funded pan-Arab television station, to accredit the Tunisian journalist as their local…
Al Jazeera correspondent Lotfi Hajji reporting from Tunis after Tunisian authorities evicted the pan-Arab television network from its offices, November 5, 2021. 
News

Administration Should Lay Out Plan to Hold Chinese Officials Accountable

Tonight, United States President Joseph R. Biden will “meet virtually” with Chinese President Xi Jinping, yet the agenda for their discussion remains unclear.   The Biden administration deserves credit for calling out Chinese government crimes…
This combination image shows US President Joe Biden and China's President Xi Jinping 
News

Address Rights Risks, Press IOC to Adopt Rights Policy

(New York) – The International Olympic Committee’s major corporate sponsors should explain publicly how they are using their leverage to address human rights abuses in China ahead of the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games, Human Rights Watch said today.…
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Verdict Shows National Security Law Used to Undermine Rights

(New York) – The trial and harsh sentence imposed on a peaceful protester in Hong Kong shows that the authorities are using the National Security Law to curtail free expression, Human Rights Watch said today. On November 11, 2021, a Hong Kong court…
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Urgently Provide Zhang Zhan Access to Adequate Medical Care, Family

(New York) – Chinese authorities should immediately and unconditionally release Zhang Zhan, an activist wrongfully imprisoned for reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic in the city of Wuhan in early 2020, Human Rights Watch said today. Her family says she…
A photo shared by the brother of Zhang Zhan, an activist who criticized the Chinese government's handling of the COVID-19 crisis and is being held in a Shanghai prison.
News

Still Major Emitter Despite Coal Phase Out Announcements

“Glasgow must be the COP that consigns coal to history.” Those were the words in July of Alok Sharma, president of the United Nations Climate Conference (COP26). With world leaders gathered in Glasgow this week, the need to phase out coal has never…
Steam billows out of the cooling towers of a coal-fired power plant in Huai'an in east China's Jiangsu province, July 20, 2021.
News

Police Officers Suspected; Investigation Needed

Two police officers apparently brutally attacked the director of a Tunis-based LGBT rights group on October 21, 2021, Human Rights Watch said today. The attack on Badr Baabou took place against a backdrop of mounting abuses targeting LGBT activists by…
Badr Baabou, director of Damj Association for Justice and Equality, following his assault by suspected police officers in Tunisia. © 2021 Badr Baabou
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Demand — for lumber, meat, soybeans, and other goods — is driving deforestation around the world. And China is a major customer.

“We need to have deep reverence for nature,” China’s President Xi Jinping told a crucial summit on biodiversity earlier this month. Yet he failed to mention that the Chinese government allows the import of millions of tons of beef, soy, and…
Fires near Novo Progresso, Brazil on August 23, 2020, burned land deforested by cattle farmers.
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43 Countries Join Unprecedented UN Declaration

A broad group of 43 countries at the United Nations has strongly condemned the Chinese government’s widespread human rights violations against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang. The declaration also calls on the UN high commissioner for…
Chinese security personnel patrol near the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar in China's Xinjiang region, November 4, 2017.
News

A ChinaFile Conversation

In what many observers have termed a “regulatory crackdown,” a wave of new legal restrictions and bans on business, technology, and entertainment has broken across China over the past several months, with what appears to be escalating velocity…
Chinese President Xi Jinping is seen on a phone screen remotely addressing the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, September 22, 2020. 
News

Fresh Action Needed Six Years After Gui Minhai’s Kidnapping

This week marks the sixth anniversary since Chinese authorities abducted Gui Minhai, a Swedish book publisher, from his home in Thailand in 2015. After enduring a forced confession on state media and a sham trial, Gui was briefly freed in 2017, before…
Protesters stick photos of Gui Minhai, left, and other missing booksellers outside the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong on January 3, 2016.
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New Guidelines Raise Alarms for Reproductive Rights

The State Council, China’s cabinet, in its “Chinese Women’s Development Guidelines” for 2021-2030, announced today, identified “reducing non-medically necessary abortions” as a step toward women’s development. It’s unclear what specific policies…
A promotion for China's defunct one-child policy remains on the outer wall of a government office in Bobai, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, August 26, 2021.