In this issue:
1) Gao Zhisheng and the protection of labour rights and civil rights in China
2) Gao Zhisheng - Carrying the flag of justice for China's lawyers
3) Gao Zhisheng and victims of Chenjiashan Coal Mine disaster

http://www.clb.org.hk/public/contents/article?revision%5fid=37576&item%5fid=37575 [2]

In recent years, Gao Zhisheng, a prominent civil rights lawyer in Beijing, has increasingly turned his attention to cases involving the defence of rights of Chinese workers. For many years he has provided free legal assistance to workers, and also directly taken part in the movement for justice in the defence of workers' legal rights.

In the cases in which Gao Zhisheng has worked with China Labour Bulletin, both in and out of court he has demonstrated an admirable commitment to justice and perseverance.  Mr Gao said in an interview with an Italian radio station last year, "The root causes for the disastrous lack of humanity in labour relations are in the system; that labour rights do not enjoy the protection they should is inevitable under this type of system."

Law is of primary importance in the protection of labour rights, but as Gao Zhisheng points out, "The judiciary is not independent; the judiciary's inability to break away from the control of the powers that be is what makes it difficult to defend civil rights through the law".  In his court defence of workers detained after the April 2004 mass protests at the Xing Xiong, Xing Ang and other Stella International shoe factories in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, Gao Zhisheng highlighted the problem that in many private-sector factories in China, official trade union branches either simply do not exist or exist in name only.  He pointed out that independent union organizations and genuine worker autonomy are the route towards developing freedom for Chinese workers, a point of view that coincides with that of the China Labour Bulletin.  (For further information on the Stella workers case, see: http://www.clb.org.hk/public/contents/article?revision%5fid=18263&item%5fid=4072 [3]) 

Gao Zhisheng and the Chinese Civil Rights Movement

Recently government departments have been keeping a close eye on Mr Gao, his law firm has been barred from practicing by an absurd order of the Beijing Justice Bureau and his personal life is plagued by anonymous figures who follow him and keep him under observation. The Chinese government shows no sign of stopping this oppression and persecution.  China Labour Bulletin is full of admiration for Mr Gao - he has not succumbed under the pressure and threats of the authorities, but has met inhumanity with legality, confronted brutality with justice, and continues undaunted in his resolve to promote the contemporary Chinese civil rights movement.

Civil rights lawyers: actions speak louder than words

Mr Gao is one of many lawyers defending civil rights and human rights in China - others include Pu Zhiqiang, who specializes in defamation and freedom of speech cases, and who acted in the defense over the case of "A Survey of Chinese Peasants (Zhongguo Nongmin Diaocha)" [Note 1], Qin Bing and Zheng Enchong, who took over real estate demolition and eviction cases, and the prominent lawyer Xu Zhiyong, who acted in the Sun Zhigang Case [Note 2] and the Nanfang Dushi Bao Case [Note 3]. Their actions, which put them on the front line in the defense of rights in China, are admirable.  Together with numerous activists, rights lawyers are central to the safeguarding of basic human rights such as democracy and freedom in contemporary China.  China's civil rights movement is gathering momentum, but the human rights - and even the personal safety - of rights lawyers themselves, are increasingly coming under fire from the authorities.  Using profit as incentive, those in power adopt the tactics of organized crime to oppress civil rights lawyers and in doing so delude themselves that they will stamp out the civil rights movement in its infancy.  Mr Gao's car crash incident, the beating up of lawyer Guo Feixiong and other similar occurrences, make it apparent that the difficulties faced by civil rights lawyers go beyond their already highly dangerous working environment.

One year ago, when discussing whether there were dangers in labour rights work, Gao Zhisheng said, "I have realized that the most dangerous thing is to be sent to prison".  Mr Gao, however, was referring to the "old traditions" whereby the machinery of dictatorship used the judiciary to perpetrate miscarriages of justice and oppress rights activists.  He did not anticipate the new phenomenon of an alliance of criminals and officials using violence to cause direct physical harm to activists.  One of the major significances of the protest activities of Mr Gao and others is that through their own acts, they raise public awareness of this most deplorable phenomenon in modern day China. 

Difficulties in defending rights: the government turns to organized crime

One of the strategies that CLB advocates is defending civil rights in accordance with due legal procedure.  But there are increasing indications of an intensifying of collaboration between the government and criminal forces within Chinese society.  This is significantly adding to the hardships encountered by citizens and their representatives in defending rights through the proper legal channels.

Recently many savage incidents have occurred in which rights activists have encountered organized crime.  Last year well-known rights lawyer Zhao Xin was beaten up by seven unidentified individuals in a restaurant when accompanying his parents on a sightseeing trip in Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan.  The lawyer Tang Jingling, who was active in the Taishi Village rights case, was also followed and beaten up by unidentified persons after visiting human rights activist Guo Feixiong.

The government and police usually turn a blind eye and do nothing, though activists and protesters are followed, abused and even suffer physical injury; local governments may give behind-the-scenes support for such activities or directly employ criminal forces to do their work for them.  CLB reported an example of the latter last year and described how the administrative law enforcement group of Wafangdian City, Liaoning Province, made use of members of criminal gangs to use violence to stop farmers going to Beijing to petition the authorities. 

The government's legalization of violence, i.e. the trend towards organized crime in government activities in China, is increasingly prevalent, particularly in local government.  Professor Xia Ming of the Department of Politics of New York University is researching the problem of organized criminal forces in Chinese society.  He notes that at present in China, it is mainly governments at the county (municipality) and village (township) levels that have connections with organized crime, and the major activities of activists happen to be occurring at just these levels.

Rampant organized crime is working against social progress; how to effectively deal with the illegal persecution of activists and civil rights activities by local powers and organized criminal forces is a question that must urgently be addressed.

The burgeoning Chinese civil rights movement

But this trend towards organized crime in government activities and the brutality of the totalitarian dictatorship will ultimately be no match for the growth of the forces of civilization.  In recent years, particularly from 2003 onwards, the explosion of successive incidents such as the Sun Zhigang Case, the Case of the Miscarriage of Justice Over She Xianglin's "Murder" of his Wife [Note 4], and the Xiong Deming Request for Wages Incident [Note 5] have pushed forward the flourishing development of the Chinese civil rights movement - a movement launched by members of the public.  Rights cases affect every level and element of Chinese society, whether farmers, workers, students, intellectuals, even those with property.  Some cases are concerned with freedom of speech, personal freedom or the right to life, others deal with migration rights, property rights or the right to education.  It is through the public expression of opinion (usually over the internet) and the issue of petitions, appeal letters, open letters and joint signature letters, that activists reveal the truth, make society aware of the issues, and require the government to act according to the law and to give justice to the victims.  These civil rights movements that appeal to law and advocate rationality, through varied levels of media support and the external impetus of groups of rights lawyers, establish a channel of communication whereby the public and officials, the disadvantaged and the advantaged, can advocate their interests in encounters with one another.  Thus the continuously developing civil rights movement must hasten the rule of law in China and the reform of the judicial system, and is the only way for China to become a civil society and implement the constitution.

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Footnotes

1. "A Survey of Chinese Peasants (Zhongguo Nongmin Diaocha)" was written by Chen Guidi and Wu Chuntao, a couple from Anhui Province, who spent three years to write the research report. The report was published in the 6th issue of Dangdai (Modern Magazine). It is an exposé on inequality and injustice that Chinese farmers face.

2. Sun Zhigang was a young man from Wuhan, Hubei Province, who was looking for a job in Guangzhou. In March 2003, he was beaten to death by eight patients at a penitentiary hospital just hours after being arrested as a vagrant for not carrying an ID card.

3. Nanfang Dushi Bao Case: Cheng Yizhong, former editor-in-chief of Nanfang Dushi Bao (Southern Metropolis Daily), Yu Huafeng, former deputy editor-in-chief and general manager of the newspaper, and Li Minying, former publisher, were charged with corruption in April 2004. Their arrests were believed to be related to the paper's coverage of the Sun Zhigang case, coverage on SARS.

4. Shi Xianglin served 11 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of murdering his wife in Jingshan County, Hubei Province, in 1994. He was released in April 2005 after She's wife, Zhang Zaiyu, reappeared in late March 2005. This case attracted a lot of attention both in China and overseas as it exposed the miscarriage of justice in China's legal system.

5. Xiong Deming was a woman from a poverty-stricken village in Yunyang County, Chongqing Municipality, in southwestern China. When Premier Wen Jiabao visited her village in October 2003, she elbowed into the crowd and told the premier that her husband had worked for a year on a road project launched by the local government but had been unable to get his total unpaid wages of 2,240 yuan. The premier intervened in the case and Xiong's family got back the money before midnight on that day. Five days later, the county government also paid the wages it had owed to all those who had worked on the road project. This case received wide media coverage across the country and prompted all local governments to begin pressing employers to pay wages in full and on time to rural migrant workers.

13 April 2006

2) Gao Zhisheng - Carrying the flag of justice for China's lawyers

http://www.clb.org.hk/public/contents/article?revision%5fid=37580&item%5fid=37579 [4]

Gao Zhisheng, a founder of the Shengzhi Law Offices in Beijing was born in Shanxi Province and grew up in an environment of deprivation and poverty. He went to work in his early teens to help support his family and later entered the army. When he returned home from his tour of duty, he studied on his own for a law degree. Gao passed his examinations and received a professional license which allowed him to open a law office. In the next seven years in his search for social justice, Gao bravely took up the task of assisting society's weakest groups in their fight for their rights. He has spent one-third of his time every year on human rights cases and some of those cases were done entirely free.  In these cases, Gao acted as the agent of the victims of rights abuse cases. Using his substantial legal knowledge, eloquent speaking ability and fearless approach to those in authority, he has successfully acted on behalf of many who have had their civil rights threatened.

In recent years, Gao has bravely taken up many major cases. In April 2004, the workers in two Taiwan-invested shoe factories in Dongguan in Guangdong province staged a protest. Ten of those who had joined the protest were found guilty and sentenced. In the course of his defense of one of the workers, Chen Nanliu, who had been charged with deliberate destruction of property, Gao pointed out that the relationship between the worker and the investor in China was not an equal one; he showed that the communication channels needed to clarify contradictions and achieve decisions between the owners and workers were definitely not clear and open. The workers that had participated in the protest did so because of their fears of the bleak future that they faced. The investors' unrelenting pursuit of profits and the government's position of providing absolute protection for these investors, despite their infringement of the labour laws, was the main reason for the protest.

This civil rights lawyer has been active in the most fundamental labour rights work, assisting victims of workplace injury receive proper compensation. One well publicised case of work-related injury and illness handled by his law firm is that of Hong Kong-invested Lucky Gems and Jewellery Factory Ltd. (Liqi Baoshichang) in Huizhou City in Guangdong Province in 2003-2004. More than 40 rural migrant workers from China's poorest regions who were working in the processing units of this jewellery factory developed life threatening silicosis as a result of the damaging environment in which they worked. Most failed to get any reasonable compensation from the owner and failed to get the assistance that they were entitled to from the government. (For more details, see "Deadly Dust" at: http://iso.china-labour.org.hk/public/contents/article?revision%5fid=19186&item%5fid=19182 [5]) Gao put himself forward and provided legal assistance to two silicosis sufferers, Li Weizhong and Yang Renping. In an letter sent to the chairman of Lucky Jewellery Company, Gao said the problem between Lucky Gems and the group of silicosis sufferers was no longer simply a case of a conflict between a labourer and his employer. In the special situation in China today, it has already evolved into an issue that civil society must energetically tackle.

Gao has repeatedly shown us that these men and women are human beings. They are no different than we are, but they are openly looked down upon. They are asking us for the minimum level of human consideration. This is a challenge that our civil society cannot ignore.

On November 28, 2004, a gas explosion occurred in the Chenjiashan coal mine in Shanxi province. In all, 166 miners lost their lives. Following this tragedy, the local government and the mining company both failed to provide the families of the victims with the proper compensation and settlement that was their due and used force to block the families of the victims from making inquiries or from using legal means to seek their rights. Gao again rose to the task.  He traveled thousands of kilometers and through many police road blocks to meet with the families of the victims to get a better understanding of the situation and offer legal assistance.

In the past seven years, Gao has met with obstruction and interference from various government bodies and agencies in his attempts to protect the human rights of the weakest groups in society. He sent an open letter to President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao over the Internet on October 18, 2005. In it he asked that the government stop persecuting those that believed in freedom and democracy. Within two days Gao himself and members of his family were put under surveillance by the Beijing City police. Then, on November 4, the Beijing Municipal Justice Department announced its decision and said that the Shengzhi Law Offices,which Gao heads, would not be allowed to operate for one year.

At around 10:20 pm on the evening of January 17, 2006, Gao reportedly had a car accident while driving home. At this time, Gao is still under police surveillance and his freedom of movement has been severely restricted. We believe that his life in fact is in great danger.

China Labour Bulletin greatly supports the just and upright work of lawyer Gao Zhisheng, and we strongly object to the illegal action taken by various government departments in China. China Labour Bulletin calls on governments around the world, and on labour groups, lawyers' groups and non-governmental organisations to express their concern for the plight of Gao Zhisheng.

13 April 2006

3) Gao Zhisheng and victims of Chenjiashan Coal Mine disaster

http://www.clb.org.hk/public/contents/article?revision%5fid=37584&item%5fid=37583 [6]

A year after the Chenjiashan Coal Mine disaster, Gao Zhisheng, who had provided legal assistance to the victims' families to fight for compensation, visited the bereaved families in Tungchuan City, Shaanxi Province, in November 2005.

The coal mine accident happened on 28 November 2004 claimed the lives of 166 miners who were working underground when it was reported that there was fire in the pits the week before the coal mine explosion.

Lawyer Gao was so touched by the grief of the victims' families that he wrote an article about what he had seen and what he had talked with the families shortly after his visit to a village near Chenjiashan.

In the article, he wrote about the grievances he heard from the victims' families. A victim's wife, Liu Li (pseudonym), told him that on average, each family "received 80,000 yuan in compensation, which is lower than other places in China." She also complained to him that no official has been sentenced (for causing this accident), adding that when they went to talk to the local mining bureau, the officials act impatient with them, or they ignore them, or even beat them up.

The widows of the deceased miners could not hold back their tears when they talked to Lawyer Gao. One widow said: "They treat us so cruelly. The Mining Bureau celebrated its 50th anniversary and each employee was given a 1,300-yuan bonus. The leaders even received thousands yuan. But as for us, we weren't given a penny, even though our husbands died for this coal mine. We fought that for a long time, but in the end they gave only 100 yuan for each family."

The widows felt so desperate that they did not believe that the government would help them get a fairer compensation for their loved ones. One widow said: "Our husbands were killed and now we live in fear. Do you think that is just? Wen Jiabao visited us in January, but I am sure you didn't see what really happened here on television. The provincial government and the mining bureau knew his schedule before he arrived. Police were assigned to our place a few days before Wen came, especially to the victims' families....We divided into two groups, then kneeled down on the highway. Those awful officials forced us to do that, and we couldn't think of any other possibilities. When we approached the cars, many of the car doors opened, but I couldn't figure out who Wen Jiabao was.... I heard Zhao Yongmei crying, 'We want to see Chairman Wen [Wen Jiabao], Chairman Wen must bring us justice.' When I turned, I saw Zhao was grabbing a leader's hand tightly, and that leader said, 'Just tell me. There's no rush, I am Wen Jiabao and I am going to bring you justice.' When we heard him saying he was Wen, we couldn't believe it. We didn't know what to say and just cried out. Police, armed police started to remove us, so that Wen could proceed with his visit. Actually I guess he was forced to say he was going to bring us justice, because we had blocked the highway. He left ten months ago and we have heard nothing from him. Only one of the 19 families that visited you in Xian is doing okay. The rest are penniless."

Lawyer Gao's article exposes how difficult it is for families of victims of coal mine disasters to get a fair and reasonable compensation due to local government officials' intention to protect their own personal interests.

See CLB's complete English translation of Lawyer Gao's article on his visit to the Chenjiashan victims' families at: http://www.clb.org.hk/public/contents/article?revision%5fid=19098&item%5fid=19097 [7]

13 April 2006