Thank You To Our Supporters!
Dear Readers,
As the year draws to a close, we wanted to thank you for reading our work and supporting Human Rights in China (HRIC)’s important mission to defend the rights of the Chinese people, and to push back against the Chinese government’s repression. 2023 was a year of big changes for HRIC—in March, Zhou Fengsuo took over the reins as our new Executive Director, guiding HRIC in a new direction. Notwithstanding the initial transition process, we have accomplished a lot this year.
In addition to the international advocacy that HRIC has traditionally engaged in, we focused on bolstering our support for the next generation of advocates and civil society, and expanding our reach and influence on social media. HRIC is proud to be the voice of the Chinese activist community. With our strong connections within the community, we are able to provide timely support to affected activists while bringing necessary media attention to human rights defenders’ most pressing issues. Our efforts in highlighting the CCP-supported attacks on protesters at APEC, which elicited a statement from Congress and has been cited in numerous media reports, is one example.
Below are some of the key highlights from our work this year:
UN Advocacy:
This year, HRIC submitted to several UN Treaty Bodies and the Universal Periodic Review. These five submissions were made to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) (link), the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) (one on LGBTQI+ rights, and another on Hong Kong), and to the Universal Periodic Review (also on LGBTQI+ rights and Hong Kong), in preparation for China’s review in January 2024.
Building International Connections:
As part of the Asia Assembly Observation Network (AAON), HRIC took part in the pilot assembly observation mission to Kuala Lumpur with Malaysian member organization SUARAM, and attended a debriefing of the mission in Bangkok where we presented on the Hong Kong June Fourth Online Assembly.
At RightsCon, an international summit on human rights in the digital age, HRIC hosted a session titled “China’s digital authoritarianism and transnational repression: mapping threats, policy and advocacy responses.”
HRIC partnered with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) to host a private multi-stakeholder consultation in Bangkok on digital rights in Hong Kong and Thailand.
In late November, HRIC attended the Universal Periodic Review pre-review session in Geneva, where we met with other NGOs and state parties to discuss and strategize human rights issues in China ahead of China’s UPR review in January 2024.
Host Government Engagement:
Part of HRIC’s role as the megaphone for the China human rights and pro-democracy movement has included facilitating interaction between activist groups in the diaspora and the host governments. This year, this took the form of testifying before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China regarding transnational repression and joining rallies and press conferences in DC to draw attention to critical issues within the China human rights movement.
Youth Engagement:
This summer, HRIC launched a new internship program, which hosted six interns from top schools across the United States.
HRIC has consistently provided support to youth student leaders in the aftermath of the White Paper Movement, including sponsoring events, hosting large-scale organizing meetings, and promoting student-led initiatives.
Community Engagement:
HRIC plays a significant role in bringing together different parts of the activist community from across the globe. One way that we accomplish this is by hosting and supporting events where activists can gather and talk freely.
Executive Director Zhou Fengsuo and other staff members regularly attend community-building events in New York City. Fengsuo also regularly travels to other cities to meet with leaders in the activist community and facilitate improved cooperation between groups.
HRIC has been actively working with groups in Europe to facilitate events and community building. Most recently, we helped host a very successful European traveling exhibition to commemorate the White Paper Movement one-year anniversary.
Training and Building Technological Capability:
HRIC conducted eight training programs for advocates within activist communities, focusing on increased cybersecurity knowledge and activist skills.
Working with our partners, HRIC has been providing strong technology support to help defenders exercise their rights to internet and information.
Producing Educational Content:
In August, HRIC produced and published an educational resource “FAQ on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly (Hong Kong)” as well as an original article “Remembering June Fourth is Not a Crime,” which explained how the authorities in Hong Kong have violated the fundamental freedoms of Hong Kong citizens and failed international human rights standards by repressing peaceful assembly.
Documenting and raising awareness regarding human rights abuses:
HRIC cooperated with citizen journalists to publish articles on Yu Wensheng and Xu Yan and on Luo Shengchun, and translated the indictment of and a piece of independent journalism on Huang Xueqin from Chinese to English to post in conjunction with the original publication.
In May and June, HRIC launched a social media campaign and posted our own archived pictures taken during the democracy movement in 1989. Our posts earned 18.1M impressions over two months. One of the top posts has earned more than 543k impressions.
This summer, HRIC launched a social media campaign “709 Crackdown Eighth Anniversary: Witness the Power of Women.” Our interns played a vital role in this campaign, and produced a video which amassed more than 57.2K views on our Twitter platform.
Every year before the Lunar New Year, HRIC sends more than 120 greeting cards to human rights defenders in mainland China. This year, HRIC also launched a social media campaign to call on everyone to send cards to defenders imprisoned to pay tribute to them. The first call-on post has earned more than 325K impressions.
Expanding Social Media Presence:
HRIC launched a new website this year, hosted at hrichina.org.
In August, HRIC re-launched the HRIC Daily Brief as the Weekly Brief, published every Tuesday on Substack. As of December 2023, we have 1400 active readers, including representatives from the UN and other international bodies, government officials, journalists, and academics from around the world.
This year, HRIC’s Twitter (X) account had a big spike in subscribers, views, and engagement. Our followers grew to 65,000 and counting, an increase of approximately 50%.
We are only able to accomplish everything we do due to your support. In the coming year, HRIC hopes to continue expanding our online presence, engage in international advocacy, and provide the essential capacity-building, translation, and reporting services that have made us an indispensable cornerstone of the Chinese activist community. We will always be committed to producing quality work to bring about effective change. Please continue to give us your valuable support!
We wish you and yours all the best in the new year.
Sincerely,
The HRIC Staff