IBAHRI open letter calls on President Xi Jinping to end persecution of legal professionals in China

Monday 12 February 2018

In an open letter to His Excellency Mr Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) has called for the cessation of the persecution of human rights lawyers in China and for adherence to the international legal instruments that safeguard the independence of legal professionals.

Penned by IBAHRI Co-Chairs, former United Nations Legal Counsel and Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Ambassador (ret.) Hans Corell and former Australian Justice the Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG, the letter expresses ‘serious concern over the unwarranted interference with the professional duties of lawyers’. Disturbed by the number of human rights lawyers and activists disbarred, detained, interrogated or charged since July 2015, the Co-Chairs go on to describe the current state of affairs as ‘an unacceptable intrusion on the independence of the legal profession, which undermines the rule of law and threatens democratic principles’.

Further, the letter references two recent cases: the disbarment and arrest of Mr Yu Wensheng and the disbarment of Mr Sui Muqing. Mr Wensheng had his licence to practise law removed, was arrested on 19 January and held at Shijingshan Detention Centre on charges of ‘obstructing official duties’ and, according to reports, was formally charged on 27 January with ‘inciting subversion of state officials’, after he posted two letters online calling for government reform. Currently, he is under residential surveillance in a designated location.

Mr Muqing was disbarred on 22 January for events that occurred in 2014 and 2017: in 2014, he allowed his client to disrupt the court and, in 2017, he took photographs at a police station while with a client. The notice of disbarment for Mr Muqing, who has publicly made allegations against the government of torture and the mishandling of human rights cases that he served on as a lawyer, cites online posts and public speech critical of the Chinese government as reasons for the exclusion.

In the letter, Ambassador (ret.) Corell and Mr Kirby convey the IBAHRI’s concern that both Mr Wensheng and Mr Muqing have been targeted as a result of fulfilling their duties as legal professionals. The Co-Chairs state, ‘the IBAHRI respectfully reminds Your Excellency of the international, national and regional legal provisions guaranteeing the independence of the legal profession’, before urging China’s compliance with its obligations to international and national law. They cite relevant Articles in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, as well as those under China’s own Constitution enshrining freedom of expression, demonstration and association; the unlawful deprivation or restriction of freedom by detention; and protection of the rights of citizens to criticise and make suggestions to any state organ or functionary.

The letter concludes with the request for the relevant authorities to ensure Messrs Wensheng and Muqing are afforded the rights enshrined in international law and the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China; for President Xi to ‘take all possible measures to ensure that lawyers can carry out their legitimate professional activities without fear of intimidation, harassment or interference, in accordance with international human rights standards’; and for assurances that the IBAHRI’s concerns ‘will be addressed as a matter of urgency’.

ENDS

Notes to the Editor

  1. Links to references:

    International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
    www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr

    Universal Declaration of Human Rights
    www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights

    Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers
    www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/RoleOfLawyers

  2. The International Bar Association(IBA), established in 1947, is the world’s leading organisation of international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies. Through its global membership of individual lawyers, law firms, bar associations and law societies it influences the development of international law reform and shapes the future of the legal profession throughout the world.

    The IBA’s administrative office is in London, United Kingdom. Regional offices are located in: São Paulo, Brazil; Seoul, South Korea; and Washington DC, United States, while the International Bar Association’s International Criminal Court and International Criminal Law Programme(ICC & ICL) is managed from an office in The Hague, the Netherlands.

    The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute(IBAHRI), an autonomous and financially independent entity, works to promote, protect and enforce human rights under a just rule of law, and to preserve the independence of the judiciary and the legal profession worldwide.

For further information, please contact:

Romana St. Matthew - Daniel
Press Office
International Bar Association
4th Floor, 10 St Bride Street,
London EC4A 4AD

Mobile: +44 (0)7940 731 915
Direct Line: +44 (0)20 7842 0094
Main Office: +44 (0)20 7842 0090
Fax: +44 (0)20 7842 0091

Email: romana.daniel@int-bar.org
Website: www.ibanet.org