The English Version
Initiated by The Association for the Advancement of Feminism (website: www.aaf.org.hk)
(8th
March 2015 ) Women and sexuality groups in Hong Kong express grave
concern with the recent arrests by the Beijing authorities of five
prominent female activists, including Li Tingting (李婷婷)(also known as
Maizi麥子), Wei Tingting (韋婷婷), Wang Man (王曼) in Beijing, Wu Rongrong
(武嶸嶸) in Hangzhou, and Zheng Churang (鄭楚然) (also known as Datu) in
Guangzhou, but apparently with no solid legal ground. We urge the
Beijing police to respect the freedom of speech as prescribed in the PRC
Constitution, and ensure that the women’s legal procedural rights
including rights to meet with lawyers and families, and rights to
personal safety are strictly observed. We urge for their immediate
release in so far as no sufficient evidence can be found to accuse them
of any illegal act.
According to reliable sources, the arrest
began on 6th March. At 4pm, Wei Tingting and Wang Man in Beijing were
taken to the Beijing Haidian Police Station (北京市海澱區派出所) for
interrogation. At 11.30pm the same day, five to six police knocked at
the doors of Li Tingting in Beijing and Zheng Churan in Guangzhou.
Beijing Police entered Li Tingting’s home by force and taken her away
immediately. She has disappeared for more than 30 hours so far. As to
Zheng Churan, she was taken to a local police station, questioned for
eight hours, and transferred to a local guesthouse for house arrest.
Updates note that she has been criminally charged of “picking quarrels
and making troubles” (尋釁滋事罪) as prescribed in article 293 of the
Criminal Code. She was later taken over by the police from the Haidian
district of Beijing, and is now in Beijing. On 7th March, Wu Rongrong
flew into Hangzhou from Guangzhou. At 2pm upon her arrival at the
airport, she was immediately taken to the Hangzhou Xihu District Gudang
Police Station (杭州西湖區古蕩派出所) for interrogation by Beijing National
Security officials. At 5.10pm the same day, Wu Rongrong’s friends
received a call from her with cries of pain. The line was cut almost
instantly and could not be reconnected again.
We are extremely
worried about the well-being of these women, and in particular the
personal safety of Wu Rongrong. We wish to remind the Beijing
authorities that Wu has been sick recently, and according to both
Chinese law and international norms, it is the authorities’ obligation
to ensure that Wu is provided with timely and effective medical
treatment.
The International Women’s Day has 40th years of
history. In China as in the world, it has been one of the most
significant platforms for all to celebrate and to advocate for the
promotion of gender equality with the affirmation of the equal rights
and status of women.
As early as 1995, China took part in the
organisation of the UN 4th World Conference on Women centering on the
theme of “Action for Equality, Development and Peace”. Therein was
endorsed the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Then in one of
his public speeches made last month, Xi Jinping stated openly that
China would uphold gender equality as one of the basic national
policies. It is obvious that the discussion and advocacy on women rights
and related issues should not be seen as a taboo in China.
According
to source of information, the arrests was triggered by the five young
women preparing stickers printed with sentences in Chinese such as “Stop
sexual harassment, let safety be with you, me and her” and “Run police
run, arrest those who commit sexual harassment!”, which they planned to
distribute on 7 March in the streets of the cities of their respective
residence. The action was planned simply because they have learned that
the All-China Federation of Workers would submit a bill to the two
respective sessions of the National People’s Congress and Chinese
People’s Political Consultative Congress regarding sexual harassment in
the workplace and the bill may be given some importance. The plan was
hence derived by the activists as a means to bring public concern and
also to call for the setting up of a mechanism to prohibit sexual
harassment in public transport. We see the actions as planned rational
and mild as strategies used everywhere by civil society worldwide for
drawing public concern and as means for publicity and public education.
It is a far cry from constituting the crime of “picking quarrels and
provoking troubles” and any other allegations as noted in the Chinese
Criminal Code. As such, we strongly question the legality and lawfulness
of the current arrests by the Beijing police.
As a matter of
facts, sexual harassment has been a social phenomenon in China
continuously drawing attention and discussion. According to the survey
covering four regions including Beijing and Guangdong done in 2011 by
the Beijing Zhongze Women’s Legal Consulting Services Center/ Beijing
Qianqian Law Firm, sexual harassment had been affecting the daily life
of 40%-60% of women in China. Among them 57.5% were young women between
the age of 20 and 29, and most had chosen to either keep quiet or quit
the job instead of reporting the cases. This problem has always existed
with no less attention. In its Concluding Observations over China’s
State Report, released on 7 November 2014, the UN Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women has expressed concerns on
the issues of sexual harassment in China, and urged the Chinese
government to “ (a)dopt legal provisions that require employers to
assume liability for sexual harassment at work places”. (Para. 37c)
In
this light, we call for the Chinese government to look into the issues
of social concerns genuinely, and resolve them with tenability by
enhancing the standard of the laws and their implementation, instead of
just maneuvering to quell the voice of the whistle blowers. We, the
undersigned, would like to reiterate hereby our grave concerns of this
recent series of arrests, and we will continue to monitor the situation
unless the cases are handled with justice and activists are released.
*For more information and discussion, please visit Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/events/892417467447737/
