In April 2005, Mr. Tan Kai, along with Mr. Lai Jinbiao, Mr. Gao Haibing, Mr. Wu Yuanming, Mr. Qi Huimin and Mr. Yang Jianming informally founded Green Watch, an environmental civil society group created in response to complaints from residents of Huashui Town in Dongyang City regarding pollution … [Read more...]

The observatory has been informed by Human Rights in China (HRIC) of the detention of Mr. Yan Zhengxue, who is actively involved in human rights campaigns and an outspoken human rights promoter, as well as a well-known artist and dissident. In the lead up to the meeting of the Central Party … [Read more...]

On November 10, 2004, Mr. Zheng’s wife, Mrs. Jiang Meili, went to visit Mr. Zheng in Shanghai’s Tilanqiao Prison along with several other family members. During the visit, Mr. Zheng reported he had been visited several times by Mr. Miao Xiaobao, the director of Changhai’s Judicial Bureau and Prisons … [Read more...]

Zheng Enchong, who as a lawyer had been involved in the defense of economic and social rights of persons displaced as a result of Shanghai’s urban development projects, was arrested on 6 June 2003 and charged with “illegally providing state secrets to entities outside of China”. Zheng Enchong was … [Read more...]

Juana Calfunao Paillalef, a community leader from the Mapuche ethnic group, and her family, have suffered a campaign of intimidation, including the apparent murder of her uncle and an arson attack on her home. On June 26, 2004, a fire started in her house which burned it to the ground. A charred … [Read more...]

Bill C-3, An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Certificate and Special Advocate) and to make a consequential amendment to another Act (Bill C-3): Senate Special Committee on Ant-Terrorism Hearing on February 11th 2008. The Supreme Court of Canada, on February 23, 2007, in … [Read more...]

January 18th, 2010 The case involving the August 2002 arrest of well known Vancouver human rights lawyer Cameron Ward was argued in the Supreme Court of Canada on January 18th. Mr. Ward was arrested, handcuffed, strip searched, held for close to 4 hours and released without charge in what the … [Read more...]

On August 1st, 2002, Cameron Ward was arrested in Vancouver while attending a public event in Chinatown. Reports indicated that Mr. Ward was handcuffed, searched by three police officers, held in custody for five hours and finally released without charge. Mr. Ward’s car was seized from the street … [Read more...]

Protocols put in to place by the City of Vancouver Legal Department have put wide-sweeping restrictions on the ability of the Pivot legal society to perform its mandate as an advocate for marginalized residents of the Downtown Eastside. Pivot lawyers, including David Eby, are counsel to a number … [Read more...]