Dear FORUM,

To commemorate the World AIDS Day, please see below a new analysis by
the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

Authorities Restrict HIV/AIDS Activism While the Epidemic Spreads Link
directly to this item with:
http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=113178

Although the Chinese government has developed an anti-AIDS policy
framework, civil society engagement remains a major challenge in the
fight against the epidemic, according to an October 8 article
<http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2008-10/08/content_7085842.htm>
written by the Executive Director of the United Nations Joint Programme on
HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) published in the state-run China Daily.

As of October 2007, an estimated 700,000 new HIV infections reportedly had
occurred in China since 2006, representing an 8-percent increase, according to
Chinese and UN official statistics cited in the scientific journal Nature's new
study
<http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v455/n7213/full/455609a.html>
(subscription required) released on October 2, 2008.

Among those newly infected, the study reported that men who have sex with men
and women in general had the highest rate of growth.

The Chinese government restricts HIV/AIDS activism through frequent
harassment and crackdowns on HIV/AIDS advocates and non-governmental
organization (NGO) Web sites.

(See a previous Congressional-Executive Commission on China analysis
<http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=106348>
for more information.)

Even in cases where infections resulted from official malfeasance, local
officials use extra-legal detention or reeducation through labor to prevent
people living with HIV/AIDS from seeking government assistance or using official
grievance procedures.

(See Section II-Public Health and Section III-Access to Justice-Citizen
Petitioning in the CECC's 2008 Annual Report
<http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_house_hea
rings&docid=f:45233.pdf> for more information.)

An October 14 Aizhixing survey
<http://groups.google.com/group/ChinaRights/browse_thread/thread/1ce95f85bec15c5\
> (subscription required) of 106 people living with HIV/AIDS included the
following findings:


* Almost all of those who sought some form of redress considered filing
lawsuits against the hospitals from which they received HIV-infected blood, but
only 73.6 percent actually did. Petitioners, those who used the official
"Letters and Visits" (xinfang or shangfang) system, cited insufficient financial
means, lack of confidence in the court system, or the court's refusal to accept
their application to file lawsuit as reasons for not bringing suit.

* Approximately 80 percent of the petitioners indicated that officials had
intercepted their visits to authorities and either forced them to return to
their homes, subjected them to extra-legal detention in hotels or police
stations, or placed them under house arrest. Threats against petitioners or
their families, blocking meetings with officials, and the imposition of
reeducation through labor sentences were also reported.

* Nearly one quarter of the petitioners who took their petitions to
higher-level government offices through official grievance procedures
reported receiving compensation.

HIV/AIDS patients who have faced government harassment for their seeking redress
include, for example:

* Li Xige, Henan province: Contracted HIV/AIDS through a blood
transfusion when giving birth in 1995. Li's two daughters were also
infected with HIV, one of whom died in 2004. Since 2005, the Henan
government has detained or harassed Li for petitioning the government
for compensation. According to an October 6 Radio Free Asia report
<http://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/rights_aids-10062008112637.html?encoding=simp\
lified> , the government resumed 24-hour surveillance of Li in September.

* Zhu Bingjin, Jilin province: Contracted HIV/AIDS while selling his
blood during the early 1990s. Zhu organized others who were infected
through selling blood to express their grievances and seek redress from the
blood collection station. According to the survey, authorities have placed Zhu
under house arrest twice since 2003, sentenced him to one year of "reeducation
through labor," and placed him under administrative detention for 35 days for
his petitioning activities.

For more information on the Chinese government's restrictions on
HIV/AIDS activism, see the CECC's previous analysis, China Continues to Crack
Down on HIV/AIDS Web Sites and Activists
<http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=106348> ,
and the CECC 2008 Annual Report
<http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_house_hearings&do\
cid=f:45233.pdf> , Section III-Civil Society and Section II-Public Health.

Link directly to this item with:
http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=113178



Wenchi Yu Perkins

Congressional-Executive Commission on China
242 Ford House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Tel: (202) 226-3832
BlackBerry: (202) 360-6255
Fax: (202) 226-3804
E-mail: wenchi.perkins@...
www.cecc.gov