Children are not spared in China’s persecution of families of human rights defenders

(TibetanReview.net, April 23, 2024) – The practice of collective punishment dates back to the era of Mao Zedong’s dictatorship and continues to this day in a China that claims to practice a globally superior “people’s democracy process.” ”. Whatever the jargon of the Communist Party of China’s “theoretical breakthrough” may mean, there is very little to commend it if it severely punishes even children of those who have dared to be critical of the ruling dispensation.

Publishes its annual report on the situation of human rights defenders in China in 2023 on April 15. If I disobey, my family will suffer: Collective punishment of families of human rights defenders in China, The US-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) have highlighted Chinese authorities’ punitive measures against families of human rights defenders, including even newborns.

“Chinese authorities punish their families, including young children, to punish human rights defenders and rights lawyers themselves. Even Chinese law provides no legal basis for this perverse practice, which is prohibited by international law,” said CHRD Director Renee Xia.

“The most heartbreaking part of actually inflicting so much pain is the damage done to children. Children who grow up from a young age and see their parents abused and persecuted leave behind long-lasting psychological trauma.”

The report is based on testimony from a dozen people who faced collective punishment last year, and certain identifying details have been redacted to protect them from official reprisals.

“While this report focuses on 2023, Chinese authorities have used these tactics for decades, causing massive damage with impunity,” the report said.

“The search for redress often leads to increased police harassment, brutality and unwarranted legal charges,” it added.

It says authorities have threatened and harmed the children of rights activists, including by imposing foreign exit bans, forcing them to leave school and confining them to psychiatric wards and orphanages.

“The Chinese Communist Party’s collective punishment of the families of human rights defenders is an informal or covert policy implemented by government authorities,” the report said.

In one serious case, He Fangmei – an imprisoned campaigner for vaccine safety and victims of defective vaccines – had her young children placed in a psychiatric hospital following her and her husband’s detention.

After he gave birth, her newborn child was also placed in the facility, the report said.

Similarly, the family of human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang was subjected to intense harassment, and his young son was denied an education under government pressure in schools. The boy’s mother, Li Wenzu – also an activist – has said he was again forced out of a school he attended for only 10 days last month after police showed up there.

The report also sheds some light on the fate of Peng Lifa, an activist who disappeared after posting banners denouncing President Xi Jinping and the country’s Covid policies.

“To prevent his family from speaking out, Chinese police have placed members of his family and relatives under surveillance and cut off all contact with each other and the outside world,” the report said.

CHRD is a network of Chinese and international activists promoting human rights and empowering rights defenders in China.