Access Now, along with 320 other NGOs and civil society actors — including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Reporters Sans Frontières — call on U.N. bodies to take immediate action, and put an end to China’s rampant human rights violations. Via an open letter, the coalition appeals to the U.N. Secretary General, U.N .High Commissioner for Human Rights, and U.N. member states to urgently establish an international mechanism to stop online and offline abuse at the hands of the Chinese government.
Targeting human rights defenders in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, and abroad, the government has censored and blocked the internet, employed digital surveillance, and suppressed academic freedom.
“The world has watched the ongoing, relentless abuse of academics, journalists, human rights defenders, and religious minorities in China for decades,” said Melody Patry, Advocacy Director at Access Now. “No more. Today we petition the U.N. to step up and ensure the government complies with its international human rights obligations.”
“The U.N. has both the power and responsibility to take action on these concerning violations by government authorities in China, and implement clear, concrete, and achievable steps to end human rights abuses across the country,” said Raman Jit Singh Chima, Asia Pacific Policy Director and Senior International Counsel at Access Now.
The open letter follows an unprecedented call from 50 United Nations experts for “decisive measures to protect fundamental freedoms in China,” emphasizing the repression of protests and democracy advocacy in Hong Kong.
Read the open letter.