The results of a United Nations investigation and determination on the inhumane detention of Chen Kegui, nephew of the blind human rights activist Chen Guangcheng, was the focus of a bipartisan press conference Wednesday by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ-04), co-chairman of the Commission on China, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Chen Guangcheng and the group Freedom Now.
Participants announced the results of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention's investigation into Chen Kegui’s case. His detention was determined to be arbitrary and the his immediate release was called for in Opinion No. 2/2014 newly issued by the U.N. group.
"The jailing of Chen Kegui is indeed arbitrary, as found by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. But it is also brutal and scary and unconscionable," said Smith, who has held over 45 hearings on Chinese human rights abuses. "It is unlikely that a country like China, which aspires to be a great power, can ever become one if treats its citizens thusly. Along with the U.N., we urge China to immediately and unconditionally release Chen Kegui," Smith said.
"It would be tempting to dismiss Chen Kegui’s case, if it was an isolated one. But his detention repeats and all too familiar pattern that includes Nobel Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, human rights lawyers Gao Zhisheng and Yang Maodong, and hundreds of others this year alone.
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention rendered the following opinion:
'The deprivation of liberty of Chen Kegui is arbitrary, being in contravention of articles 9, 10, and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and falls withing category III of the categories referred to by the Working Group when considering the cases submitted to it.
'Consequent upon the opinion rendered, the Working Group requests the Government to take the necessary steps to remedy the situation, which include the immediate release of Chen Kegui and to grant him compensation for the harm he has suffered during the period of his arbitrary detention.'
Smith is a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and chairs its global human rights subcommittee.
"President Xi Jinping has presided over a sweeping crackdown on rights advocates and lawyers that rivals any in the past 15 years," Smith said. "And this is on top of the ongoing pressures faced by Tibetan Buddhist, Uyghur Muslims, Falun Gong practitioners, labor and religious freedom advocates.President Xi has also promised to stamp out Western influence and values, including human rights, free speech, civil society, internet freedom, and constitutional democracy. These are not the actions of a willing ally.
"The United States must remain committed to those in China who continue to struggle for universal freedoms and human rights," Smith said. "The U.S. must also lead in promoting human rights, recognizing that almost all of our strategic interests depend on securing the free flow of information, the rule of law, and the ability of Chinese citizens to organize and speak their minds freely."
The congressman said a creative human rights diplomacy with China has eluded the Obama Administration. The human rights and democracy pillars are the least developed, least articulated, and least pursued parts of the Administration’s 'Asia Pivot,' he said.
"It is time for a new approach, one that integrates human rights into all parts of the bilateral relationship," Smith said. "A policy where the President publicly meets with dissidents and their families. And, one where a human rights agenda is integrated across the entire structure of U.S.-China relations. Human rights are too critical to U.S. interests to be left to once-a-year Human Rights Dialogue."
Smith said that if the U.S. does not articulate clearly that human rights is a U.S. interest, critical to better relations, the Chinese government will never be interested in improving conditions for the Chinese people. The congressman said a good place to start such an approach is at the annual Strategic & Economic Dialogue, scheduled to meet again in early July.
"We ask that Secretary Kerry seek the release of Chen Kegui and others rights defenders when he goes to Beijing in July," he said. "We also ask that he demonstrate U.S. leadership on human rights by creating a coordinated and creative approach to human rights diplomacy with China." (Click here to read Smith's opening statement.)
Chen is the nephew of Chen Guangcheng, who caused an international sensation when he escaped house arrest and entered the U.S. Embassy in Bejing in April 2012. Chen made a public appeal to Smith to assist him and his family. Smith held several hearing on Chen's imprisonment. Following the escape and subsequent intensive high-level negotiations, Chen and his wife and two children were able to travel to the United States. Although the Chinese government said that it would investigate and cease all mistreatment against his extended family members, it has continuously intimidated, harassed, and persecuted them. His nephew Chen Kegui was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to over three years in prison after defending himself from a home invasion by a half-dozen intruders and local party officials who entered his family home days after Chen Guangcheng’s escape from his illegal house arrest. The group Freedom Now has worked as co-counsel with Chen Guangcheng on the nephew’s case. Jared Genser, Founder, Freedom Now, also spoke.
