Solidarity with farmers in China

The Chinese New Year is approaching and as China spreads its influence all over the world, we feel more connected with this country, its well-known products, its delicious foods, its intelligent people, and its ancient traditions. The New Year is also a good time to remind us about the people who are living in difficult situations. In spite of the recent impressive economic growth in China, many people still seek desperately for their basic human rights. According to information gathered by Amnesty International, torture and other forms of ill-treatment are widespread and systemic in China. It takes place in police stations and detention centers ranging from prisons to administrative “re-education through labor” camps, and is carried out in full public view as well as behind closed doors. Torture and ill-treatment is often perpetrated by officials in the course of their normal duties in full public view, and sometimes as a public humiliation and warning to others.

One of the most oppressed classes in China is deprived farmers who lose their lands due to large scale construction projects. Construction has increasingly been accompanied by house demolitions and forced evictions, often with little compensation, and thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest their ill-treatment. Human rights activist Yang Chunlin, who has campaigned on behalf of tens of thousands of farmers and whose land was confiscated for development projects, was tortured heavily into confessing and convicted of “inciting subversion of state power” on 24 March 2008. Then following an unfair trial, he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, followed by two years deprivation of political rights. As you can imagine, he and his family as well as many other farmers in China are having a tough time.
Amnesty International has been following this case during the past years by urging the authorities to take effective measures to ensure that all human rights defenders including Yang Chunlin are allowed to carry out their peaceful activities without fear of hindrance, intimidation, arbitrary detention or imprisonment, in line with the UN Declaration on Human Rights.

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Group 122
Amnesty International Sweden
E-mail: group122.aisweden@gmail.com