Public Events During APEC Highlights China Human Rights Abuses

By Shar Adams and Fang Xiao, Epoch Times Australia Staff, Sep 04, 2007-

(excerpt)

The Human Rights Awards ceremony is one of a number of events staged to draw attention to China’s human rights violations during the APEC leaders meetings in Sydney.

Free China, a non-government organisation (NGO) representing a range of groups concerned with human rights in China, will be holding a rally and march in Sydney’s Hyde Park on Thursday September 6. Speakers include Phil Glendinning from the refugee and advocacy group the Edmund Rice Centre and Pan Qing from Human Rights Watch New Zealand.

The president of Free China in Australia, Sandra Hattingh, said they were expecting a large turnout for the event and were glad to be able to use Hyde Park, a venue so close to the APEC zone.

“We have around 20 speakers,” Ms Hattingh said, “and a number of groups that will bring their own supporters.”

Groups participating in the Free China rally include the Tibetans, Uighers, Vietnamese, Burmese and Falun Gong practitioners, she said.

Amnesty International will be holding a rally on Saturday September 8. As this will coincide with the APEC leader’s weekend, the rally will be held in Victoria Park, well away from the security zone.

The Amnesty rally carries the slogan: This event would not happen in China! and will see a number of speakers, including representatives from Amnesty, The Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition, Falun Gong and the Tibetan and East Turkestan communities.

A representative from PEN will also be speaking at the Amnesty event. PEN has been campaigning for a number of writers presently incarcerated in Chinese prisons, including Tibetan Dolma Kyab, aka Lobsang Kelsang Gyatso, who has been sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of “endangering state security” after the release of his manuscript The Himalayas in Turmoil; Guo Qizhen, an Internet journalist and cyber-dissident who was arrested in May 2006 and charged with “inciting subversion of state power” for his pro-democracy activities and anti-government articles published on overseas websites; and more recently Chen Shuqing, who was sentenced to a four-year prison term on August 14 this year for “inciting subversion of state power” after writing two articles for a democracy magazine in China and five for overseas magazines.

A rally will be held to raise awareness of the persecution of Falun Gong in China with speakers, an anti-torture exhibition and exercise demonstrations in Belmore Park, Friday September 7.

The Vietnamese community in Australia will also be holding a rally for human rights in Belmore Park on September 8. Speakers include Greens Senator Kerry Nettle.

- Original report from The Epochtimes: China on The Public Agenda During APEC