BNA report
ABA to Honor Imprisoned Chinese Human Rights Lawyer
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In a sign of support for China’s embattled rights lawyers, the American Bar Association earlier this month announced it is giving the organization’s first ever “International Human Rights Award” to Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Yu.
Wang, based in Beijing and widely known for her work on behalf of women and religious minorities, was arrested by the Chinese authorities last year on charges of “anti-state activity,” and remains incarcerated in China. According to the ABA, she’s awaiting trial, and will receive the award in absentia at the association’s annual meeting in San Francisco next month.
She is one of hundreds of lawyers whom the PRC government reportedly has detained since launching a crackdown last summer in what has been widely perceived as an effort to silence dissent.
A number of bar associations and legal organizations, including the New York City Bar Association and the International Bar Association, issued letters last year condemning the crackdown and calling on the Chinese government to release prisoners.
The ABA also issued a letter, calling for the government to “permit lawyers to discharge their professional duty.” But lawyers, law professors, and even members of Congress alleged the association hadn’t been harsh enough in its condemnation of the arrests.
That criticism grew louder after it rescinded its offer to publish a book by Teng Biao, another prominent Chinese human rights lawyer and Biao made public an email he received from an ABA employee who said the organization was concerned about “upsetting the Chinese government.”
The ABA has said the employee was mistaken and the deal was rescinded purely for business reasons, but the incident nevertheless prompted a letter from Congress asking the ABA for a better explanation.
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In a recent interview with Big Law Business, Jerome Cohen, a professor who studies China at NYU Law School, called the ABA’s award to Wang Yu a “brilliant stroke” on the part of the ABA, and a positive sign the organization is taking a stronger stance on human rights.
Cohen also explained why the targeting of lawyers by the Communist Party and Chinese President Xi Jinping isn’t arbitrary: as Xi moves to consolidate power and institute his favored economic program, a lot of “vested interests” are pushing back.
“Lawyers are natural representatives,” Cohen said. “Without them people can’t use law to protect their interests, and that’s why Xi is making sure lawyers will not be available to challenge him.”
A widely recognized expert on China, Cohen is also of counsel at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and writes about China on his own blog.
We recently spoke with Cohen over Skype about the ABA’s decision to recognize Wang, the ongoing saga over Teng Biao’s canceled book deal, and the future of the legal community in China.
