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This explainer presents action taken by UN experts on the case of detained Chinese anti-discrimination activists Cheng Yuan, Wu Gejianxiong, and Liu Dazhi.

The present assessment provides substantial evidence that demonstrates how the human rights situation in China meets each of the nine ‘objective criteria’ for action by the Human Rights Council.

On the third anniversary of the arrest of Cheng Yuan, Wu Gejianxiong and Liu Dazhi (the 'Changsha Three'), ISHR and eight rights groups urge Beijing to ensure Wu is effectively released, and Cheng is able to meet with his family, and not subjected to ill-treatment. Cheng Yuan's wife, Shi Minglei, has reported that Cheng still faces strict limitations in access to his relatives, and is subjected to forced labour in Chishan Prison.

As High Commissioner Bachelet announces end of term amidst sharp criticism of her visit to China, a growing number of governments and NGOs call for the presentation of her Xinjiang report. Meanwhile, over 40 UN experts issue strong call for an international inquiry into China’s human rights crisis, an effort restoring some credibility to the UN’s Human Rights Office with human rights defenders.

High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet conducted a rare visit to Guangzhou, and the cities of Urumqi and Kashgar in the Uyghur region, as leaked 'Xinjiang Police Files' provide new evidence of high-level acquiescence in Beijing's repression against Uyghurs. Her visit was regrettably marked by the absence of strong public diplomacy and concrete steps towards a regular monitoring of China's human rights situation.

“One day, we should be entitled to go back to our hometown, but the condition is: with democracy, with freedom, with human rights, and without fear.”

This new ISHR report presents the evolution of China’s public stance on reprisals in dialogues at the UN, and summarizes the way in which it has portrayed civil society’s cooperation with the UN as a ‘criminal act’.

Ahead of Hong Kong and Macau's review by the Human Rights Committee in July 2020, ISHR has prepared an explainer summarising the Committee's work to oversee the implementation of civil and political rights, and opportunities for civil society engagement in its review process. Civil society plays a vital role in informing the Committee's assessment, and pointing to key areas of concern.

3 May is World Press Freedom Day, a reminder that the universal right to freedom of expression and the right to seek, receive and impart information is both precious and precarious.

The Chinese authorities weaponise laws to target dissidents in the name of ‘national security’: journalists are no exception. On World Press Freedom Day, ISHR calls on the authorities to release independent journalist Huang Xueqin and her friend, labour rights activist Wang Jianbing. Both were unjustly held for 226 days.