391 Georgina Higueras Dissent and Human Rights in China The prestigious Martin Ennals prize, awarded by a jury composed of the 10 main international human rights organisations has chosen Cao Shunli as one of the final nominees for the award, which will be presented on the 7 October 2014. Cao, 52, died on the 14 March, six months after disappearing in Beijing airport from where she was departing for Geneva to participate at the United Nations Human Rights Council. “Cao Shunli was a Chinese activist who lost her life in the struggle to build a more just society”22, states the jury’s communication. It adds that Cao, a civil servant and trained lawyer who lost her job after denouncing corruption in housing allocation, “vigorously advocated for access to information, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly”. The activist spent more than two years in re-education-through-labour camps and was subjected to repeated harassment right up until she was detained for the final time. She died suddenly after not receiving the medical treatment she needed. Cao was admitted to a military hospital in a coma, and doctors were unable to revive her. Chen Xiaoming, a well-known Shanghai housing activist who fought for fair housing and against forced evictions, died on the 1 July 2007, hours after his family received temporary permission for medical parole for treatment for a serious deterioration in his health. Imprisoned at the beginning of 2006, “there are also indications that ill treatment and beatings in prison were major factors in Chen’s death. Chen’s inhumane treatment in prison and the denial of his personal dignity even in his final hours contradicts the “people-first” approach touted by the current Chinese leadership”, states Human Rights in China23. Since taking power in November 2012, Xi Jinping has launched a huge campaign against corruption; the campaign’s credibility, however, was tarnished by the sentence passed in January to four years imprisonment for Xu Zhiyong – an activist fighting for government transparency and a leading advocate of the anticorruption campaign by the dissident group, the New Citizens Movement. Xu was detained after calling upon government officials to publically reveal information on their wealth. Repression of the rights of Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, and certain other pseudo-religious movements, such as Falun gong; as well as the rights of ethnic minorities, particularly Tibetans and Uighurs – two independentist peoples, are also broadly denounced by international human rights organisations. These subjects 2 2 h t t p : / / w w w. m a r t i n e n n a l s a w a r d . o r g / i n d e x . p h p ? o p t i o n = c o m _ content&view=article&id=217:cao-shunli-china-final-nominee-2014&catid=39:winners&lang=es&It emid=0 Consulted: 15/05/2014 23 http://www.hrichina.org/en/content/967 Consulted: 15/05/2014
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