On August 7, 2007, Ms. Melanie Raoul, Mr. Sam Price, Ms. Leslie Kaup, Mr. Nupur Modi, Ms. Duane Martinez and Mr. Pete Speller, all citizens from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom and members of the organisation “Students for a Free Tibet”, were arrested for displaying a protest banner reading “One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008” in English and Chinese, on the Great Wall. Their action took place on the eve of the one-year countdown to the 2008 Olympics and was aimed at drawing attention to continuing human rights violations in Tibet and to call peacefully for the rights of the Tibetans to self-determination. Since their arrest, the Chinese authorities have refused to communicate their whereabouts in spite of actions undertaken by three western embassies in Beijing.
The Observatory expresses its concern over the ongoing harassment of human rights defenders in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and wishes to recall that according to the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels” (Article 1) and “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, [...] to meet or assemble peacefully” (Article 5(a)). Moreover, the Observatory points out that in the Preamble of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, the General Assembly acknowledges “the valuable work of [human rights defenders] contributing to the elimination of all violations of human rights [...], such as those resulting from [...] the refusal to recognise the right of peoples to self-determination”.
The Observatory also wishes to recall that the National People’s Congress amended the Chinese Constitution in 2004 to include that “the State respects and safeguards human rights” and that in April 2006, the PRC submitted a document in order to support its candidacy to the Human Rights Council’s first election, in which it affirmed that the amendment to the Constitution was aiming at “defining the position of human rights in the overall national development strategy”. The Observatory further wishes to point out that, as a member of the Human Rights Council, the PRC “shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights” [1].
On the eve of the one-year countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Observatory urges the PRC to show greater involvement in the defence of human rights defenders, and to this end, to:
– guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of the above-mentioned activists and - more generally - of all human rights defenders operating in the country;
– communicate the whereabouts of the above-mentioned activists and release them immediately since their detention is arbitrary as it aims at sanctioning their human rights activities;
– more generally, conform with international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by the People’s Republic of China.
For further information, please contact:
OMCT : Delphine Reculeau, + 00 41 22 809 49 39
FIDH : Karine Appy, + 00 33 1 43 55 25 18 / + 00 33 1 43 55 14 12