Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International wrote to US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, urging the Bush administration to accept the petition recently submitted on China under section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The letter asks the administration to initiate an investigation of the petition's very serious claims that China’s systemic failure to protect workers’ rights constitutes an “unreasonable” trade practice under the act. READ MORE
The U.N. Commission on Human Rights, which concluded its annual six-week session in Geneva, appointed a monitor to investigate the human rights situation in Sudan, even though it failed to condemn the government for massive abuses and attacks on its civilians. READ MORE
Year-Long Pattern of Harassment Comes to Light
Chinese authorities should immediately release Dr. Jiang Yanyong, a government critic who exposed the government's cover-up of last year's SARS epidemic. Dr. Jiang, 72 years old, and his wife Dr. Hua Zhongwei, have been heard from only once since government agents arbitrarily detained them on June 1 while en route to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing to obtain a visa. READ MORE
On July 19, six weeks after his disappearance, Dr. Jiang Yanyong is home but not free. The military authorities who detained the 72-year-old army surgeon have made it clear that his case is not over and that there will be restrictions on his movements. He is under an undefined “gag-and-travel order” that limits his ability to speak to anyone but his patients and then only about medical matters. The People’s Liberation Army 301 Hospital, his work unit, must clear all personal travel. READ MORE