China: Civil society key to defeating AIDS

International Groups, Global Leaders Press UNAIDS to Convene NGO Meeting

(New York/Toronto, September 27, 2007) – The United Nations AIDS
Program should support Chinese AIDS activists, who face increased
government surveillance and intimidation, in their efforts to openly meet
and discuss AIDS, human rights and access to legal services, 27 human
rights organizations, foundations and AIDS organizations from around the
globe said today.

In an open letter to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
(UNAIDS), leading HIV/AIDS experts and advocates are calling attention
to the ongoing crackdown on AIDS activists in China and asking the
Chinese government to respect human rights and encourage
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to participate fully in the fight
against AIDS. In particular, the letter calls for a special UN conference to
address China’s HIV/AIDS challenges.

Those signing the letter include an unprecedented number of Asian AIDS
organizations and such notable global figures as former UN Special Envoy
for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis and the chair of UNAIDS’
Reference Group on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, Mark Heywood.

Over the past two months, the letter says, the Chinese government has
repeatedly harassed AIDS activists and disrupted the efforts of AIDS
organizations to operate and hold meetings. Chinese police have forced
the cancellation of three separate meetings on HIV/AIDS in the city of
Guangzhou in Guangdong province and Kaifeng in Henan province, and
also closed the offices of an HIV/AIDS support group in Henan.

Chinese government authorities have also singled out individual activists,
detaining 80-year-old physician and AIDS activist Dr. Gao Yaojie, the
husband-and-wife team of Hu Jia and Zeng Jinyan, and 2005 Reebok
Human Rights Award winner Li Dan.

Dr. Peter Piot, the executive director of UNAIDS, recently acknowledged
the importance of civil society groups at the meeting of the World
Economic Forum in Dalian, China, stating that no country in the world
had successfully defeated AIDS without giving civil society groups the
“space to do their work.”

Joe Amon, director of the HIV/AIDS Program of Human Rights Watch,
said that UNAIDS’ rhetorical support was not enough. “UNAIDS must act
to support not only governments in the fight against AIDS, but also those
AIDS activists and organizations who are under fire,” Amon said. “In our
letter we are simply asking UNAIDS to convene a meeting of civil society
groups in China and ensure their protection.”

Many Chinese AIDS activists fear an increasing crackdown on AIDS
groups in the months leading up to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Previous high-profile events in China have led to tight constraints on
public dissent and the detention of groups considered “undesirable.”

“The spirit of the Olympic Games is inconsistent with the intimidation of
AIDS activists, the shuttering of AIDS NGOs and the harassment of those
most at risk,” said Richard Elliott, the executive director of the Canadian
HIV/AIDS Legal Network. “UNAIDS must make it clear to the Chinese
government that a successful fight against AIDS cannot be sacrificed on
the altar of the Olympic Games.”

For more of Human Rights Watch’s work on HIV/AIDS, please visit:
http://hrw.org/doc/?t=hivaids&document_limit=0,2

For more of Human Rights Watch’s work China, please visit:
http://hrw.org/doc?t=asia&c=china

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