Three U.N. Special Rapporteurs have added their voices<\/strong><\/a> to calls for information on the whereabouts of rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong<\/a>. Jiang went missing last week after visiting the wife of fellow lawyer Xie Yang in Changsha. Xie was detained during last year\u2019s Black Friday, or 709, crackdown<\/a> and is now reportedly being beaten and ostracized in jail<\/a>. From the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe international standards are clear: States must refrain from and protect all persons from acts of reprisal,\u201d Mr. Alston said, noting that that other individuals he met during his visit to China have also been harassed and subjected to what appears to be reprisals. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Alston commented in August<\/a> that \u201cChina has much to be proud of in the field of poverty alleviation,\u201d but that developments such as the 709 campaign \u201call seem to be heading in the direction of shrinking the space available to citizens to influence policy-making through public debate or to contest alleged violations of their rights.\u201d Similarly, incoming U.N. Secretary General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres called during a visit to Beijing late last month for \u201can effective combination in human rights, of civil and political rights and the economic and social rights in a balanced way<\/a>.\u201d Beijing has consistently emphasized the right to development<\/a>, using its economic record to shield it from criticism on other fronts.<\/p>\n
Referring to Jiang\u2019s case at The Diplomat last Friday, activist Michael Caster wrote that \u201cBeijing has been trying to normalize enforced disappearances for a decade<\/strong><\/a>,\u201d with efforts including 2012 amendments to the Criminal Procedure Law<\/a>, the 2015 National Security Law<\/a>, and this year\u2019s National Human Rights Action Plan<\/a>:<\/p>\n
[\u2026] China must clarify its definition and use of national security crimes. The extreme vagueness in the law allows for the State to claim anything it wants. This is doubly concerning when such allegations are part of manipulated legislation that attempts to legalize human rights violations on national security grounds. Again, international law is clear that there are no exceptions when it comes to enforced disappearances. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Also last Friday, an editorial in The Washington Post highlighted Jiang\u2019s apparent detention<\/strong><\/a> and those of citizen journalists Liu Feiyue and Huang Qi. Both Liu<\/a> and Huang appear to face the increasingly common suspicion of collusion<\/a> with “hostile foreign forces<\/a>.” The Post urged President-elect Donald Trump to speak up for them:<\/p>\n
[\u2026] Every effort must be made to speak up for those who are hustled away in the middle of the night. President-elect Donald Trump has shown little interest in human rights, but after he takes office he should not remain silent about these cases, because silence only encourages more repression. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The editorial appeared before Trump\u2019s hugely controversial phone call with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen<\/a> the same day, which may or may not offer a preview of his willingness to confront Beijing on other sensitive issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"