After the conference...
The September UN Conference on Women was a major October Review reports, Chinese participation was strictly diplomatic and propaganda event for China's ageing elite. As controlled. And human rights activists are still in jail.
AMONG THE NGO FORUM EVENTS THAT CAUGHT MEDIA (whose only son was killed in the 1989 movement), were attention were a 2-hour parade by several hundred women detained by the police for the entire period. Some, such as denouncing imperialism's exploitation of labouring women Tong Zheng (who campaigns for Japanese compensation for in the developing countries, the Amnesty International its war crimes), were forcibly deported from the capital.
demonstration denouncing human rights abuses in Burma and China (such as the imprisonment of woman journalist Thirdly, participants were put under strict surveillance and
Gao Yu and Tibetan nuns), the protest by Korean women control. Numerous security people in uniform and demanding Japan's compensation for comfort women (and plainclothes watched over the participants, video-taped denouncing China's preventing Chinese comfort women some activities, or even broke up gatherings and confiscated from attending the NGO Forum), the demonstration of materials. The regime clearly wanted to prevent contact environmentalists against nuclear testing, the gagged between participants and local, Chinese women. *
Dissidents detained & harassed
Shanghai Municipal Government for protest of Tibetan women in exile, the parade of lesbians, and so on and so on. Xu Zhijian, Deputy Chairman of the Chinese Organising Committee, said in a press conference that "to quote the
IN SPRING OF 1995, A GROUP OF INTELLECTUALS words of a friend, in the Forum, at publicised an open letter to the National every place in every minute, there
People's Congress and the state leadership were discussions and there were appealing for political democratisation and demonstrations." Exaggerated as release of dissidents in jail. Many of the this comment may be, the petitioners were detained for interrogation interactions among women from and henceforth locked up. They included the world certainly around
Wang Dan, the well known student leader of produced positive many
1989, and Liu Nianchun who has been exchanges and reflections.
involved in the movement for democracy
Since 1978.
The NGO Forum took place after a sustained fight with the Chinese the 1989 movement. He actively participated authorities. In the first place, the
Chinese authorities attempted to in the movement for democracy since 1978, when he was editor of the samizdat journal restrict the number of participants,
Beijing Spring. In 1989, the Communist Party and refused to issue entry visas to blamed intellectuals for instigating the mass many participants. According to
"revolt", and Chen Ziming was sentenced to the Forum organisers, of the 36,000 jail for 13 years. In jail, he was found to have persons who had registered for the cancer, and was allowed to return home for
Forum, only 26,000 obtained hotel medical treatment in May 1994. He had an registration forms (a prerequisite operation, and was still under medication for visa application). There were when he and his wife Wang Zhihong signed also many cases of people holding some petition letters urging for hotel registration forms but still democratisation. He was once again thrown denied a visa. The final figures into jail this year. In jail, he was refused seems to to be that 31,549 persons medication, and his health severely participated in the Forum, deteriorated. The authorities even froze the including 5,000 from China. Most couple's bank account and put them in a of the Chinese participants had desperate financial situation. In early October, been carefully selected; dissidents,
Chen Ziming went on a hunger strike for over human rights activists, seekers for
10 days. His family applied to the Public compensation from Japan, and
Security Bureau for permission to hold a former "comfort women" were demonstration to appeal for his release for prevented from attending. Some, medical treatment, but the application was such as the Ding Zilin couple rejected. Wang Zhihong and Chen Ziming's sister Chen Zihua were even detained for several days.
Reprinted from October Review, vol. 22 issue 4/1995
For more information write to: G.P.O. Box 10144,
Hong Kong e-mail <or@iohk.com>
18 December 1995
Chen Ziming is the alleged "black hand" of
In June 1994, Bao Guo petitioned the permission for him to form a human rights organisation. He was then arrested and sentenced without trial to three years in a labour re-education camp. He is "guilty" of attempting to exercise the right of association guaranteed by the Constitution.
The well known dissident Wei Jingsheng was sentenced to jail for 15 years, merely because he wrote some articles criticising the Chinese Communist Party. He was released from prison six months before the expiry of the prison term, at a time when China was bidding to hosting the Olympics 2000. Soon afterwards, Wei Jingsheng was arrested again. Over 18 months later, his whereabouts are still unknown. His family has made enquiries, but has not obtained any explicit reply. Of course, such a long detention is a violation of the People's Republic's own Law on Criminal Prosecution.
When journalists asked Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang about the abduction of Wang Zhihong and Chen Zihua by the police, he commented: "the fact that they were taken away by Public Security people itself shows that they have committed illegal acts."
During his last visit to New York Jiang Zemin, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, and President of the People's Republic of China, acknowledged that "there are some cases of violations of human rights in the social life of our country, but the Chinese government has always taken a staunch position against these violations, and has redressed them according to law... we have always insisted that no-one will be found guilty or penalised for their speech." No comment! *
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