With US President Donald Trump entering the White House, human rights campaigners around the world fear his administration would drop support for global struggles for democracy and freedom.
However, Trump’s administration is armed with a new law unprecedented in US history — the ability to sanction any individual involved in human rights abuses.
Now a newly formed non-governmental organization is hoping to push the US to sanction a slew of Chinese names, focusing on prosecutors and police who handle cases of prominent human rights activists. Potential punishments include travel bans, freezing assets and seizing property.
Illustration: Mountain People
“There is well documented evidence that Chinese officials routinely commit gross violations of human rights against dissidents and human rights defenders,” said US Senator Benjamin Cardin, the sponsor of the law. “Those officials responsible for such violations should be investigated under the act.”
The Magnitsky Act was passed in 2012, but until last month it only applied to Russia. It is named after Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who accused officials of stealing state funds and subsequently died in custody.
It was used this month to blacklist five Russian officials, including Alexander Bastrykin, the powerful head of Russia’s investigative committee who reports directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
With its global expansion last month, a group of veteran China activists established the China Human Rights Accountability Center with the singular goal of collecting evidence to mount cases under the Magnitsky Act.
“China’s human rights record is the worst in the world, surely in terms of scale, and this law sends a strong and clear message to Chinese officials,” said Teng Biao (滕彪), one of the center’s founders and a visiting fellow at New York University. “Being sanctioned would be a huge embarrassment and a confirmation of the suffering inflicted by so many.”
While convincing the US government to publicly sanction Chinese officials might be an uphill battle, the law specifically says the president will consider “information obtained by non-governmental organizations.”
The US Department of State is to submit a report to US Congress sometime in April with a list of names. Even if the activists fail in having all of them sanctioned, they plan to put the detailed evidence on their Web site for the public to see.
“The name of the game is to scare, shame and embarrass officials who violate human rights,” said Cao Yaxue (曹雅學), another of the center’s founders and editor of the human rights Web site ChinaChange.org.
The group is preparing to submit evidence for at least three names so far, including Jia Lianchun, (賈連春) a judge who presided over the trials of three prominent human rights activists, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波). Liu was jailed for 11 years.
The others are Xia Baolong (夏寶龍), who led a campaign against Christian groups as the Chinese Communist Party secretary of Zhejiang Province, and Li Qun (李群), who put blind human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng (陳光誠) under house arrest.
Chen is also a founding member of the accountability center.
Other potential targets for the organization are the police and prosecutors who handled the case of Cao Shunli (曹順利), a rights lawyer who died in 2014 — like Magnitsky, in police custody.
The center also plans to investigate the officials who prosecuted economics professor Ilham Tohti, a Uighur who was jailed for life and later given the prestigious Martin Ennals Award.
“In the past the US criticized and we expressed our values, but we really haven’t had any very effective tools to influence China,” former US deputy assistant secretary of state Susan Shirk said. “It was a very frustrating situation to feel that we don’t have the tools to really have much impact in these types of cases.”
Shirk, who is chair of the University of California 21st Century China Center, pointed to US citizens held in China and often denied due process as a group that could benefit from the Magnitsky Act.
One prominent case is that of Sandy Phan-Gillis, an American who was charged with spying after being held for more than a year and is believed to have been tortured, with the UN saying her detention is a violation of international law.
Many human rights activists in China and around the world are worried that Trump’s presidency would mean less focus on human rights, but members of Congress have made clear it is still a foreign policy priority.
“We look forward to working with the new administration to make sure that the law is carried out in full, and without fear or favor,” Cardin said. “We expect that the administration will take the necessary actions to implement the law and we in Congress will do our job of oversight to make sure that that is the case.”
Members of the China Human Rights Accountability Center said they hope professional diplomats would still push these causes.
“Trump can’t control everyone and there are many in the State Department passionate about human rights,” Cao Yaxue said. “Trump has said he wants to restart, rethink and remap China-US relations, and he will put human rights into play because that’s something he can use in negotiations.”
“Considering how bad China’s human rights record is, if no Chinese officials are on the list then that will stink for Trump’s administration,” Cao Yaxue said.
While most of the organization’s founding members are based in the US, democracy activist Hu Jia (胡佳), having been denied a passport for years, remains in Beijing and could bear the brunt of any government reprisals.
“This is very dangerous work, but ever since I started doing human-rights work I was more concerned for my family’s well-being than my own,” Hu said. “I’m the man of action on the ground and I hope I can help bring this law to life, give it power and have it make an impact.”
Police have been stationed outside Hu’s home for more than a decade, beginning in 2004, even keeping watch over his wife and daughter while he was in prison for three-and-a-half years. However, Hu feels more at ease that only he will bear the brunt of any government reprisal now that his ex-wife and daughter are living in Hong Kong.
Hu said Australia, Canada and European countries should follow the US’ lead and enact similar legislation, grasping a unique opportunity to make an impact.
“On the surface all these officials are very patriotic, but in reality they’ve all stashed their money in the US,” Hu said.
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