【China AIDS:7743】 China: Security Police Robbed NGO activists who has assisted HIV discrimination lawsuits

All the four lawsuits of PLWHA's fighting against discrimination in employment in China were assisted by Yu Fangqiang. For more details, please make reference to New York Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/world/asia/01china.html?_r=0

 

Nanjing Justice For All (TIANXIAGONG) Strongly Denounces Security Police's Robbing of Computer and Mobile Phones of Yu Fangqiang

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Nanjing Justice For All (TIANXIAGONG)

(Nanjing, China �May 18^th, 2013)

 

       At 9:30 in the morning on May 17^th, the director and charter member of public interest anti-discrimination NGO Nanjing Justice For All Yu Fangqiang was forcibly taken away by three men of unclear identities outside of his office.  One of them flashed a badge, identifying himself as a security officer of the Henan Police, Feng Mou.  Talking while in the process of leading him away, they claimed they wanted to inspect his personal belongings.  He refused, but the three men forcibly seized his two mobile phones, one computer, one ID card, and his credit cards.  Once he received a guarantee that they would be returned after the inspection, Yu Fangqiang left the place where they had "had tea" and continued to his 11:00 conference meeting.  Afterwards, he contacted the police, demanding that they return his stolen possessions, who responded, "Come pick them up in Henan."

 

       Based on the situations revolving previous incidents of "having tea," this may have been due to the recent involvement of Yu Fangqiang's organization in the "10,000 Signatures for Tap Water Information Disclosure Petition," "Lawsuit Against Motel 168 Over Breach of Contract for 'Maintaining Stability'," and/or "Disabled Youth Workshop" initiatives.

 

       Yu Fangqiang is the director and one of the charter members of policy advocacy NGO Nanjing Justice For All, and has previously been the general coordinator for the Beijing Yirenping Center, for a total of 6 years in policy advocacy work in China.  The issues he has worked on include food and drug safety, Hepatitis B anti-discrimination, AIDS anti-discrimination, disability anti-discrimination and gender equality.  He has been a visiting student at the Civil Society Studies Center of Hong Kong University, the Long Yingtai Foundation in Taiwan, and Fordham University School of Law in the USA.  In 2008, Yu Fangqiang worked a year in the Zhengzhou office of Beijing's Yirenping Center, and members of the Henan Police Bureau staff have been in contact from time to time with him since then.

 

Background Recommendations:

 

"Lawsuit Against Motel 168 Over Breach of Contract for 'Maintaining Stability'"

       On March 25^th, Nanjing Justice For All Cultural Outreach, LLC (hereafter "Justice For All") received the summary judgment from the Gusu District Court of Jiangsu Province, wherein the court ruled that the defendant Suzhou Motel 168 Hotel Management, LLC (hereafter "Motel 168") owed ¥21,750 ($3,543.29) in damages as well as the ¥5,000 ($814.55) deposit as compensation.  For the moment, this ruling is the first and only of its kind to rule in favor of a NGO in a case wherein a hotel has breached contract due to a police policy of "maintaining stability."

 

Related News Report:  Caixin Online, "Ruling Against Hotel for 'Maintaining Stability' which caused Breach of Contract"

 

Link (Mandarin Chinese): http://china.caixin.com/2013-03-25/100506031.html

 

"10,000 Signatures for Tap Water Information Disclosure Petiiton"

Public interest organization Nanjing Justice For All constantly pays close attention to the issue of drinking water safety.  As March 22, 2013 was World Water Day, Justice For All has created an initiative to attain 10,000 signatures for a petition for the government to disclose information on tap water.  When 10,000 or more signatures have been added to the petition we will send it as a joint letter to the Health Commission, the Ministry of Housing, and the Ministry of/ Environmental Protection!

 

"Disabled Youth Workshop"

Anti-discrimination organization Nanjing Justice For All hosted a "Youth Workshop on Eliminating Disability Discrimination" in Xuzhou of Jiangsu province from April 12-14, 2013, where over 40 disabled youth and NGO members from Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Anhui, and other places participated.