14/09/2008 Open letter to Chinese government on rights abuse around Olympics: Appeal to State Council Aids Prevention Work Committee 

Appeal to State Council AIDS Prevention Work Committee
Difficulties Encountered By AIDS Workers During the Olympics
China National Network of AIDS CBOs
September 13, 2008 

Dear State Council AIDS Prevention Work Committee: 

It is our understanding that from the beginning of this year, and especially in July and August, while the world's attention was focused on the Beijing Olympics, AIDS workers across the country have encountered difficulties including harassment, house arrest, detention, and criminal conviction and sentencing, including:

1. In the beginning of March 2008, during the "two meetings" in Beijing (National People's Congress and Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Committee), in Henan Province more than 100 AIDS workers and petitioners were followed by local law enforcement, placed under house arrest and subjected to other obstructions in their work. And during the Olympics AIDS sufferers traveling to petition were followed, they were accompanied by law enforcement officials during their visits to family and friends, and when they went for medical treatment local governments sent people to follow them. Local governments also strictly forbid AIDS sufferers from petitioning.

2. At the end of July, Hebei Province's Gu'an County Public Security bureau, in the name of implementing minimum livelihood guarantee (dibao) payments, confiscated the identification cards of county AIDS patients. Other villages also confiscated the identification cards of more than 20 people. At the end of August, the ID cards were returned, but minimum livelihood guarantee payments were not made. Because Gu'an is so close to Beijing, and during the Olympics ID cards were required to enter the capital, it is suspected that this measure was taken to prevent these AIDS patients from traveling to the capital to petition.

3.  At the beginning of August, the National AIDS Worker Organizing Conference-organized young AIDS worker summer camp and Directors Conference were investigated and disrupted by the Zhejiang Province Hangzhou City Civil Affairs Bureau.

4. On August 5, Henan Province Xincai County AIDS worker Wang Xiaoqiao was falsely accused of extortion and racketeering and sentenced by Xincai County to one year in prison. Wang Xiaoqiao's husband received a blood transfusion in a local hospital in 1996 and was infected with HIV. But the hospital refused any compensation and the local court would not accept their lawsuit. On November 28, 2007, Wang Xiaoqiao went to the Henan Province Letters and Visits Bureau to report the problem. That night the Xincai police brought her back to Xincai, and detained her on the criminal charge of racketeering and extortion.

5. Since August, in the temple where AIDS volunteers serve in Henan Province's Ningling County, AIDS worker Li Xige is watched over every day by six police officers. Altogether 18 police officers participate in the work, changing shifts every three days.

6. A woman from Henan Province's Ningling County was taken into custody before the Olympics and she is still being detained.

7. Henan Province's Mianchi County has three family members of a person who contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion who were detained for several days by the police before the Olympics and were closely monitored throughout the Olympics.

8. Hebei Province's Yongqing County AIDS patient Ms. Ma agreed to be interviewed by a Canadian journalist on August 30. But her local government warned her not to do the interview, and then under the auspices of "traveling" arranged for her to travel to another area to stay in a hotel for two days. On September 1, local officials again warned her not to accept any interviews before the end of the Paralympics or there could be grave consequences.

9. From the end of July to the end of August, the Kunming office of Aizhixing--especially the Uighur personnel in this office--were investigated by public security officials seven times. This placed a a great burden on the staff and influenced the work of the office.

10. On the eve of the Olympics, Wan Yanhai's landlord was visited by the local police in Beijing's Haidian District Enji Village and the landlord was encouraged to evict him.

The above is by no means comprehensive. We have reason to believe that during the Olympics the entire nation--but especially in areas of central China local governments pressured AIDS prevention workers, restricting their personal freedoms.

The Olympics was a 100 year dream of China, and the central government exerted considerable effort to make them successful. But some local governments put tremendous pressure on AIDS workers and detracted from the positive atmosphere created by the central government. While Beijing was enveloped in an atmosphere of celebration, AIDS workers in localities were shrouded in a state of terror. We cannot help asking: Was the necessary cost of the Olympics the freedom of AIDS workers? What sin did AIDS workers commit? We also must ask: shouldn't these local governments be punished for detracting from the auspicious and celebratory atmosphere of the Olympics?

We all know that the tragedy of AIDS transmission from tainted blood in central China has deep socio-historical roots, including the lax supervisory role of local governments. If these local governments had the courage to take responsibility for their error and take measures including compensation and apologies, this serious problem could be mitigated and social contradictions eased. But local governments and judiciaries have significantly underemphasized this problem and showed little interest. On the contrary they have severely obstructed the rights of these sufferers to legal remedy and caused the lives of local AIDS sufferers to deteriorate daily. These people have been left no alternative but to petition higher authorities in an effort to resolve their problems.

"The Central Committee of the Communist Party's Resolution Concerning Several Major Problems in Building a Harmonious Socialist Society" calls for "according with the democratic rule of law, fairness and justice... in addressing the masses' most pressing, direct, real problems;" "Must persist in putting people first," "Must accord with democratic rule of law" and "Create a service-oriented government, and strengthen social management and public service capability;" and "Comprehensively coordinate all beneficial circumstances in order to reduce social contradictions."

But in regard to the numerous AIDS workers who were obstructed during the Olympics, local governments not only did not promote their work, but covered up and obstructed it and increased the suffering and prevented the pursuit of legal remedies by local AIDS sufferers. Not only did they not "put people first" and promote the "democratic rule of law," but they misused the judicial apparatus to obstruct the legal rights of AIDS sufferers and treated the masses as if they were enemies. This kind of behavior will not only not resolve the AIDS problem, but simultaneously increases the conflict between the Party and government and the people. This completely violates the spirit of the central government's call for a harmonious socialist spirit, and in fact destroys the harmony of society!

The State Council AIDS Prevention Work Committee is the organization responsible for coordinating national policy, and establishes the standard for national policy work etc. Therefore the State Council AIDS Prevention Work Committee should take seriously the failures of localities to promote AIDS prevention work and on the contrary neglect or obstruct AIDS prevention work. They have an obligation to create a positive atmosphere for AIDS prevention work, and resolve problems that are a product of past history.

For this reason we call on the State Council AIDS Prevention Work Committee to uphold the principles of "people first" and "democratic rule of law" and investigate these local government violations of the rights of AIDS prevention workers and defend AIDS workers legal rights.

We hope that the State Council AIDS Prevention Work Committee will face squarely the problem of the spread of AIDS in central China, and come up with a humane and pragmatic policy for compensating and providing legal relief to these sufferers and appropriately resolve the problem of AIDS spreading through the tainted blood supply in central China and fundamentally resolve the contradiction between AIDS sufferers and local governments.

AIDS prevention work requires the active effort of all of society. Civic organizations are one important pillar of this prevention work, helping the government carry out public health work and construct a harmonious socialist society. So we hope that the State Council AIDS Prevention WorkCommittee actively supports civic organizations like ours, shows concern for the development of civic organizations, and creates a conducive environment for their progress.

Please send your endorsement to

Wan Yanhai

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