HRIC Statement Calling for the Protection of Human Rights Defender Dong Guangping
Human Rights in China (HRIC) urgently calls on the South Korean government and the international community to protect Chinese human rights defender Dong Guangping, who arrived in South Korea on the night of May 25 after crossing the Yellow Sea in an inflatable boat to seek political asylum. He is currently being detained by the Taean Coast Guard in South Chungcheong Province on allegations of violating immigration laws.
Dong Guangping, 68, from Zhengzhou, Henan Province, is a veteran dissident who has courageously resisted the Chinese Communist Party’s authoritarian rule for decades. In 1999, he was dismissed from the police force after signing a petition supporting the victims of the June Fourth massacre. He was later convicted of “inciting subversion of state power” and imprisoned from 2001 to 2004. In July 2014, he was again detained for participating in activities commemorating the Tiananmen massacre and was held in solitary confinement for more than eight months.
In 2015, Dong and his family fled to Thailand, where they were officially recognized as refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and approved for resettlement in Canada. However, just before departure, Thai authorities — under pressure from the Chinese government — unlawfully deported him back to China, while his family was able to resettle in Canada. Upon his return, Dong was subjected to a forced televised confession and sentenced again, serving another prison term from 2016 to 2019.
After his release, he continued to face constant surveillance, harassment, and economic persecution. In December 2019, he attempted to swim to Kinmen in search of freedom but was intercepted and returned. In January 2020, he escaped to Vietnam, hoping eventually to reunite with his family in Canada. Yet on August 24, 2022, Vietnamese police detained him in Hanoi, forcibly disappeared him, and secretly deported him back to China in blatant violation of the international principle of non-refoulement. In April 2023, a court in Zhengzhou sentenced him to 11 months in prison for “illegally crossing the border.” He was released in October 2023.
The many years of imprisonment and persecution Dong Guangping has endured stem solely from his peaceful exercise of fundamental human rights and freedoms. For more than a decade, he has never ceased striving for liberty and reunion with his family.
That a man nearing seventy years old was driven to cross open seas in a small inflatable boat is itself a devastating indictment of China’s human rights situation.
HRIC urges the South Korean government to uphold humanitarian principles and international human rights obligations by ensuring that Dong Guangping is not returned to China, where he faces a grave risk of persecution and torture. We further call on South Korea to allow him to seek political asylum or facilitate his safe passage to reunite with his family in Canada.
中国人权紧急呼吁：关注人权捍卫者董广平
董广平于5月25日深夜驾驶橡皮艇横渡黄海抵达韩国寻求政治庇护，目前被韩国忠清南道泰安海洋警察署以涉嫌违反出入境管理法为由拘留。
董广平今年68岁，原籍河南郑州，是勇敢反抗中共暴政的资深异议人士。1999年，他因联署声援"六四"被开除警籍，后被判“煽动颠覆国家政权罪”，于2001年至2004年身陷囹圄。2014年7月，他因参加纪念"六四"活动被以“寻衅滋事罪”拘押，单独关押八个多月。2015年9月，他携家人逃往泰国并获联合国难民署正式承认为难民、获加拿大重新安置许可，但在即将赴加之际，泰国当局应中国政府要求将他非法遣返中国，他的家人则于同年成功在加拿大定居，从此一家天各一方。回国后他遭被迫电视认罪，被重庆一家法院判刑，于2016年至2019年再次入狱。
出狱后他继续遭受监控骚扰、断绝生计。2019年12月，他曾泅水试图前往金门，失败被遣回。2020年1月，他潜逃越南，等候赴加与家人团聚，却在2022年8月24日于河内遭越南警方带走，强迫失踪后被秘密遣返中国，违反了国际法规定的不驱回原则。2023年4月，郑州中级法院以"非法越境"罪判处他11个月监禁，同年10月20日刑满出狱。多年的牢狱之灾，全部源于他行使捍卫中国人应有的自由和权利。十一年来，他从未停止过与家人团聚、获得自由的努力。
一个年近七旬的老人，被迫以橡皮艇横渡公海，这本身就是对中共人权状况最沉痛的控诉。中国人权呼吁韩国政府出于人道主义给予董广平帮助，切勿将他遣返中国，允许他寻求政治庇护或前往第三国与在加拿大的家人团聚。