AIDS Policy Project

We strongly support China in its effort to combat AIDS, a struggle that has confronted nearly every country in the world. We look forward to posting good news about China's victories-- already they are taking on multinational drug companies to gain access to AIDS treatment for their citizens. But many problems remain. For example, Central Government officials continue to allow the harrassment and detention of respected health experts who advocate sound, science-based AIDS policies in China. China cannot win the fight against AIDS if it persecutes its public health experts.

Below are several bulletins that reflect this problem.

March, 2006:

At least 12 Chinese activists who have been organizing and participating in a symbolic, rolling hunger strike across China that began on February 4 have been detained, some for several weeks. The hunger strikers were protesting government repression of activists and the Chinese press. The AIDS Policy Project is monitoring this situation closely. Readers interested in working to help these activists should contact the AIDS Policy Project at aidspolicyproject@hotmail.com.

It has been reported that Gao Zhisheng, a prominent defense lawyer, launched the hunger-strike to protest recent beatings and detentions of human rights activists and their defense lawyers. Showing their solidarity, dozens of supporters from various parts of China have quickly joined the relay hunger-strike in turn. Since early February, Mr. Gao has been kept under house arrest and subject to intense police surveillance.

Multiple reports describe the detention and abduction of several of those who have participated in or supported the hunger-strike, including the following:

Qi Zhiyong, a pro-democracy activist, went missing at around 11pm on February 15. He reportedly sent a text message to friends at the time saying that he was being kidnapped.

HIV/AIDS activist Hu Jia, who was closely followed by police until he disappeared on February 16. Police have repeatedly refused to give his wife information about his detention.

Zhao Xin, executive director of the Empowerment and Rights Institute, a Chinese human rights NGO, has been detained in Yunnan. His family was given no formal notice of his detention, but police warned his father not to tell anyone about his detention.

Yu Zhijian, a pro-democracy activist who was prominent in the 1989 demonstrations, joined the hunger strike; he has been charged with subversion.

Artist and activist Yan Zhengxue was taken away by police on February 12, after he met with Gao Zhisheng.

Mao Hengfeng, a Shanghai-based activist, who was detained by police on February 13. The police reportedly refused to disclose to her husband where she was being detained.

Shanghai housing rights activist Chen Xiaoming was detained on February 16 by police, who cited his participation in the hunger strike.

Wen Haibo and Ma Wendu, assistants to Gao Zhisheng, who were reportedly detained on February 16 and interrogated for 48 and 20 hours respectively being released.

Another assistant, Ouyang Xiaorong, a computer software programmer who went to Beijing to assist Gao Zhisheng, was reportedly detained at the same time.

Ma Yalian was detained on February 15 in Shanghai.

In Guangxi, lawyer Yang Zhaixin has been placed under house arrest.

Finally, hunger strike organizer Gao Zhisheng was detained by police on March 4; he remains in police custody.

We are also concerned about reports from many regions of the country of the beatings, intimidation, and harassment of rights defenders and supporters of the protest.

AIDS ACTIVIST AND ORPHAN ADVOCATE LI DAN BEATEN, DETAINED, RELEASED, BY CHINESE POLICE AUGUST 10, 2004

AUGUST 12 STATEMENT FROM THE AIDS POLICY PROJECT: Henan officials have beaten and imprisoned Li Dan, a 26 year-old AIDS activist whose only crime is trying to help children whose parents have died of AIDS--the same children that the Chinese government is neglecting. The Central Government has turned a blind eye to the situation, but they have a legal and moral obligation to protect the rights of AIDS activists and institute a responsible plan to combat China's exploding AIDS epidemic. The AIDS Policy Project holds the Central Government responsible for Li Dan's beating and detention.

JULY, 2004:
AT THE BANGKOK AIDS CONFERENCE, ACTIVISTS DELIVER AN INTERNATIONAL PETITION TO CHINESE GOVERNMENT.

Update on the Henan attacks from 2003 and current information about ongoing police intimidation of AIDS activists in China.

CLICK HERE TO READ SOLIDARITY LETTER FROM WELL-KNOWN AIDS PHYSICIANS AND CHINA SCHOLARS

In Spring 2003, local Chinese officials hired hundreds of thugs who attacked Xiongqiao Village, a Henan Province "AIDS village," in the middle of the night, terrorizing hundreds of people. They beat families, smashed their belongings, and threw a group of villagers in jail. The arrests were played on Chinese TV for a week, to make an example of the villagers and send a warning to sympathizers. The villagers, some of whom are HIV-positive, were organized AIDS activists, and they had staged protests demanding AIDS treatment for their families and care and education for their children. Their case was brought to the attention of the world through internationally respected Chinese AIDS activists.

In response, The AIDS Policy Project organized a letter writing campaign to free them; we faxed hundreds of letters to the Chinese Embassy in Washington, shutting down its fax machines for a day. Our organization joined with human rights groups and China experts to draft a special sign-on letter; the AIDS Policy Project collected the signatures of well-known American AIDS doctors while China experts gathered the signatures of respected China scholars worldwide. The letter actually took up the demands of the farmers and called for their release. A link to the letter is at left under "Update: China.

Five of the villager-activists were released immediately after this outcry, which we publicized through articles and editorials in The New York Times, Newsday, South China Morning Post, and many other outlets. Human rights activists wrote an important report on AIDS in China and did a tremendous job parlaying our letters and the ensuing headlines into pressure from the US and European governments to release these people.

We have just learned that all the remaining detainees (the original group was 17) were released, after being fined, before the Chinese new year. The fines, in the context of the farmers' incomes, are ruinous, and Chinese activists are trying to raise money (about $7,000) to aid the families. One farmer is still suffering from a badly injured leg which he received after escaping from arrest by jumping out of a moving car.

China's response to this protest by villagers--violent attacks by Henan officals and indifference from the Central Government-- publicized Henan's criminal AIDS record all over the world.

October 20, 2003: MA SHIWEN IS FREE

Ma Shiwen was released by the authorities on October 18. In addition to his arrest (and he has been detained twice for the same reason--the first time he was in jail for a month) Ma's family has faced a year of harrassment and intimidation. His release coincided with the award of $98 million to China by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria.

The US government, Human Rights Watch, and AIDS activists (among others) have been advocating for Ma.

In reponse to Ma's detention and after extended consultation with allies, the AIDS Policy Project publicly released a secret document to the Chinese and international press that officials used as a pretext to detain Ma. The document implicates Henan offiicals in the ill treatment of people with AIDS in that province.

October 11, 2003

A health official in the corrupt health department of Henan Province in Central China was arrested by authorities in April, 2003, though his case has just come to light. His name is Ma Shiwen and he is accused of sharing documents with an NGO that detail Henan's horrific AIDS epidemic, a charge he denies.

The AIDS epidemic in Henan Province, which some estimate at 1 million people, was caused by Henan officials themselves who operated blood selling schemes using unsafe equipment and methods.

Ma Shiwen's situation is receiving attention just days before the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria will announce whether it will award China $98 million over five years to combat AIDS and only weeks after a speech by China's duputy Health Minister at the United Nations Special Session on AIDS in which he stated that there are only 840,000 people with AIDS in China, a number widely considered to be a gross underestimate (some experts put the number at four to five million).

Henan Province is known for both violence against people with AIDS--see the New York Times article below--and widespread graft of foreign aid sent to the province. As one activist put it, "Government officials in rich provinces have one car. In Henan, a very poor province, they have five-- paid for with health grants.” Activists are asking the Global Fund to detail exactly how it plans to account for any Global Fund money sent to China.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2003 UPDATE: CHINESE FARMERS ARE DEMANDING AIDS TREATMENT

Background: Chinese farmers in rural "AIDS villages" are suffering from reprisals from local officials because they are demanding AIDS treatment, financial assistance, and access to education for their children. There are 1 million people with AIDS in Henan province alone and as many as 4 or 5 million in China—an accurate number is not known. Farmers in Henan “AIDS villages” (where as many as 60% of residents have AIDS) are demanding AIDS care from local officials. Several have been detained by authorities.

4 FARMERS REMAIN IN JAIL: 2 WITH AIDS
DEMAND THEIR RELEASE—CLICK HERE FOR ACTION ALERTS

New York Times article on attacks on people with AIDS in China.
Read the groundbreaking solidarity letter from US AIDS doctors and China scholars in which they take up the demands of the farmers.
Email us if you would like to receive updates on AIDS in China.