© 巴丢草 Badiucao
Ten years after the infamous ‘709 Crackdown’, Chinese authorities continue to target human rights lawyers and their relatives with detention, disbarment and harassment. Civil society worldwide joins hands to mark the crackdown’s tenth anniversary and renew calls for accountability.
Today, 9 July 2025, marks ten years since Chinese authorities launched an unprecedented, nationwide crackdown against human rights lawyers and legal activists. More than 300 were interrogated, held incommunicado, subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, and sentenced to lengthy prison terms in what became known as the ‘709 Crackdown’.
Global solidarity on the tenth anniversary
ISHR joined more than 30 NGOs in a joint statement to commemorate the crackdown, echoing the call of 50 UN Special Procedures experts since June 2020 to establish a dedicated mechanism to monitor and report on the human rights situation in China.
The statement urges governments to speak out in support of detained human rights lawyers, to raise their cases by name, to increase support to them and their families, and use every opportunity to highlight the situation of Chinese human rights defenders, including through joint statements, briefings and side events.
The ‘709 Crackdown’ did not end with lawyers: it became a blueprint for silencing dissent across China. Today, other human rights defenders, feminist and LGBT activists, Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Hongkongers face the same repression, despite repeated UN calls for justice. Governments must push for the release of those still imprisoned and demand accountability for ongoing violations.Lee Chung Lun, ISHR programme officer
Civil society organisations across the world are marking the tenth anniversary of the ‘709 Crackdown’ through events and advocacy initiatives from Washington, D.C. to Geneva, and Tokyo. These efforts aim to ensure that the lawyers are not forgotten, to highlight their central role in advancing human rights and the rule of law in China, and to reaffirm a shared commitment to accountability and solidarity.
At the 59th session of the Human Rights Council, ISHR joined 22 NGOs in delivering a joint oral statement marking the anniversary during the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers. The statement was delivered by Sophie Luo, wife of imprisoned Chinese human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi.
Watch the video of the statement below:
Defending rights in the face of repression
Over the past decade, Chinese authorities have frequently used sweeping and vague charges such as ‘inciting subversion of State power’ or ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’ against human rights lawyers and dissidents. Secret detention under Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (RSDL), which UN experts have deemed to amount to enforced disappearance, remains a key tool of repression. Under RSDL, detainees can be held for up to six months without access to legal counsel or family and subjected to torture or ill-treatment.
Closed-door trials, denial of access to lawyers of one’s choosing, and verdicts withheld from families remain systematic in practice. Family members of human rights lawyers, including spouses, children and elderly parents, continue to face collective punishment through surveillance, travel bans, and restrictions on employment and education.
As a human rights lawyer, I insisted on speaking truth to power, while seeking to advance freedom of religion and belief, freedom of expression, human dignity, social justice, and peace and democracy.Human rights lawyer detained in the ‘709 Crackdown’
Despite relentless repression, Chinese human rights lawyers have shown remarkable resilience. They play a fundamental role in defending the rights of the most marginalised, including Tibetans, Christians, feminists, LGBT advocates and victims of public health crises, while promoting broader access to justice.
These lawyers have raised public awareness of legal protections, defended victims in court, challenged unlawful government practices, and contributed to critical reforms such as the abolition of ‘re-education through labour’. Many continued their work in upholding the human rights enshrined in China’s Constitution and international treaties that China has ratified.
Their dedication has come at great personal cost, but it has also sparked national and international discussion about the rule of law and accountability in China.
Imprisoned by not forgotten
These patterns of repression are reflected in the cases of lawyers and legal professionals who remain unjustly detained today. Imprisoned but not forgotten, their treatment has been extensively documented by UN Special Procedures:
Together, they show resilience that continues to inspire civil society in China and beyond.
Ongoing UN condemnation
Over the past decade, UN bodies have consistently denounced the targeting of lawyers in China. In its 2015 Concluding Observations, the Committee Against Torture called on China to ‘stop sanctioning lawyers for actions taken in accordance with recognised professional duties’ and to ‘ensure the prompt, thorough and impartial investigation of all the human rights violations perpetrated against lawyers’.
Five years after the ‘709 Crackdown’, a group of UN Special Procedures experts expressed ‘shock’ in a 2020 joint statement on the continued persecution of human rights lawyers. In a February 2024 communication, the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers denounced disbarments, disappearances, and ideological control over the legal profession, urging China to revise regulations affecting lawyers and law firms.
Despite years of international outcry, no Chinese authorities have been held accountable for these grave violations. Chinese human rights lawyers have stood firm in the face of immense pressure to defend justice and the rule of law. Their courage must be met with sustained international support.
ISHR reiterates its calls for all States to stand with Chinese human rights lawyers and urge China to:
The highest human rights court in Latin America delivered its landmark 300-page Advisory Opinion on the Climate Emergency and Human Rights, reaffirming the right to defend the environment and the obligation to protect those who defend it.
During Egypt's UPR adoption at HRC59, Nora Noralla delivered a joint statement on behalf of ISHR, Cairo 52 and Middle East Democracy Center. Watch and read the full statement below.
At the 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council, during the Interactive Dialogue following on the UN High Commissioner's report on Venezuela, ISHR delivered a statement on the situation faced by human rights defenders and called for the immediate release of all defenders arbitrarily detained in Venezuela.
