One Child Policy Improvement “Baseless” in State Dept.’s 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report

Posted on July 17, 2014 by Reggie Littlejohn

The State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report has promoted China from a ‘Tier 3’ to a ‘Tier 2 Watch List’ nation. The report appears to attribute this promotion to a technical modification of the One Child Policy:

The PRC government maintained efforts to prevent trafficking in persons. In November 2013, the government modified its birth limitation policy to allow families with one single-child parent to have a second child, a change that may affect future demand for prostitution and for foreign women as brides for Chinese men – both of which may be procured by force or coercion. TIP Report, p. 134.

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, stated, “The fact that the PRC government tweaked the One Child Policy does not signify that it ‘maintained efforts to prevent trafficking in persons.’ Allowing a relatively small number of families to have a second child will not end gendercide or sexual slavery in China. The selective abortion and abandonment of baby girls is most prevalent in the countryside, where couples already can have a second child if the first child is a girl. Even if the most recent modification were to improve gender ratios at birth, the impact on sexual slavery would not be felt for decades to come. What about all the women and girls who are being trafficked now? The TIP Report does not cite any effective new initiatives by the CCP to help current victims of sexual slavery.”

Littlejohn has been a vocal critic of those who have argued that China is “easing” the One Child Policy by lifting the ban on a second child, if either parent is an only child. Littlejohn stated, “This minor modification does nothing to end the coercion that is the core of the Policy. The problem is not whether the Chinese government allows a woman to have one child or two children. The problem is that the government is telling women how many children they can have and is enforcing that limitation with forced abortion.”

Littlejohn continued: “We know that forced abortion continues in China. WRWF is currently strategizing on how best to help a woman in China escape the forced abortion of her second child.” In addition, there is a current uptick in Chinese refugees entering the United States at the Mexican border, stating that they are fleeing the One Child Policy.

In the 2013 TIP report, China was demoted to a Tier 3 nation – a status it shared with Iran, Sudan and North Korea. Tier 3 nations are considered to be the worst in prosecuting traffickers and helping victims and consequently may be subject to sanctions if approved by the U.S. President. The reason given: “The government of the People’s Republic of China does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking . . . “ 2013 Tip Report, p. 129.

The 2013 Report goes on to discuss how China’s One Child Policy, combined with son preference, has caused a gender imbalance that is driving human trafficking and sexual slavery, not only within China but from the surrounding countries as well. The Report listed the many nations from which women and girls are trafficked into China: “Women and children from neighboring Asian countries, including Burma, Vietnam, Laos, Singapore, Mongolia, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), as well as from Russia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas, are reportedly trafficked to China for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor.” The 2013 Report also highlights the fact that Chinese government officials complicit in trafficking are not prosecuted. Moreover, sex slaves who are victims of trafficking, instead of being rescued, are convicted as prostitutes and serve lengthy jail sentences.   Further, the Chinese government forcibly repatriates North Korean refugees, many of who have been trafficked into China. Upon return to North Korea, these refugees “may face severe punishment, even death . . . ” 2013 TIP Report, p.131.

In the 2014 TIP Report, none of this has changed. The 2013 and 2014 TIP Reports concerning China are substantially similar. The Chinese government has done nothing effectively to remedy the reasons it was demoted to a “Tier 3” status. To the contrary, the 2014 TIP Report states that “The People’s Republic of China did not provide detailed data on law enforcement efforts to combat trafficking in persons.”

Equally unjustified is the 2014 TIP Report’s claim that the Chinese government is abolishing the infamous RTL – Re-Education Through Labor, or Laojiao system — in which an estimated hundreds of thousands of people are arbitrarily detained without judicial review, and subjected to forced labor and torture. The fact that the National People’s Congress ratified a decision to abolish the RTL is the possible beginning, not the end, of reform. According to Amnesty International, this announcement by the NPC is a “cosmetic change,” in which prisoners may suffer similar injustices after having been moved to different facilities such as “black jails” and “brainwashing centers.”

Littlejohn concludes, “The Chinese government’s efforts to remedy the problems that brought it to a ‘Tier 3’ status range from ineffective to non-existent. The promotion of China from a ‘Tier 3’ to a ‘Tier 2 Watch List’ status is baseless and unwarranted. WRWF urges the State Department to reconsider this promotion and return China to its rightful ‘Tier 3’ status.”

Sign a petition against forced abortion in China:
http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=sign_our_petition

Watch a four-minute video about forced abortion in China: http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/blog/?p=34

Read “China Hasn’t ‘Eased’ Its One Child Policy
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/364200/china-hasnt-eased-its-one-child-policy-reggie-littlejohn

Read the 2014 United States Department of State Trafficking in Persons “TIP” Report
http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2014/

Read “Amnesty International Warns China’s Labor Camps Are Revived as “Black Jails’ and ‘Brainwashing Centers’”
http://www.ibtimes.com/amnesty-international-warns-chinas-labor-camps-are-revived-black-jails-brainwashing-centers-1512582

Read the full Amnesty International Report on the RTL:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA17/042/2013/en/f7e7aec3-e4ed-4d8d-b99b-f6ff6ec860d6/asa170422013en.pdf

 

 

 

Posted in abortion, Amnesty International, China's One Child Policy, coerced abortion, Forced Abortion, gendercide, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, sexual slavery, Trafficking in Persons Report, two child policy, Uncategorized, Women's Rights Without Frontiers | Comments Off on One Child Policy Improvement “Baseless” in State Dept.’s 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report

Sex Selective Abortion at 8 Months Stopped by our Save a Girl Campaign!

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Reggie Littlejohn

In celebration of America’s independence on July 4th, will you help these women gain more freedom by making it possible for them to choose to keep their baby girl?

Untitled

Bao Yu was saved from sex-selected abortion at eight months.

The story that follows is what happens in a land where people are not free — and what happens when people like you, people who are free, choose to step up and help the helpless.

Here you see a photo of precious Bao Yu (name has been changed to protect her identity).

When Bao Yu’s mother was 8 months pregnant, she went to the hospital to determine the sex of the child. Her mother already had a three-year old daughter, and her family was determined that this second child would be a son. (In the countryside, where your first child is a girl, you can have a second child. Many regard this second child as their last chance to have a son.) When the doctor told Bao Yu’s mother she was carrying a girl, her family tried to force her to abort. The family wanted a boy, and because of the coercive enforcement of the One Child Policy, they knew they could not have a boy if they kept baby Bao Yu. Even though Bao Yu’s mother couldn’t see her daughter in the womb, she knew that she loved her and felt her growing day-by-day. Still, because of the intense pressure from her family, she felt like she had no other option but to abort her full-term pregnancy – just because her baby was a girl.

Bao Yu was very fortunate that Women’s Rights Without Frontiers’ (WRWF) learned that her mother was being pressured to abort her at eight months. A WRWF undercover fieldworker visited Bao Yu’s mother and told her about the “Save a Girl” program. Our fieldworker reassured her that we are helping other families keep their girls too because we believe that girls matter just as much as boys. We offered to give the family a monthly stipend for a year, to help them support their new daughter. With our help, Bao Yu’s mother was able to stand against the cultural tide of son-preference and give birth to precious baby Bao Yu.

We are saving lives and changing the culture, one family at a time!

Bao Yu’s story is repeated all over China millions of times each year. Families who already have a daughter will routinely abort their second pregnancy if it’s a girl. Because of this brutal practice, there are 37 million more men living in China than women. And this gender imbalance is driving human trafficking and sexual slavery.

This American Independence Day, will you become a GirlSaver?

Any donation is welcome, including a one-time donation. But would you consider becoming a monthly donor, a “GirlSaver?” For only $25 per month or $300 per year, our GirlSavers have helped WRWF save at-risk babies in China, babies like Bao Yu, who might not be alive if one of our undercover fieldworkers had not met her mother and assured her that little girls are just as special as boys. Because of your generosity, we can continue to save girls in China.

Donate here:
http://womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=give

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Sex Selective Abortion at 8 Months Stopped by our Save a Girl Campaign!

Profile: Reggie Littlejohn discusses human rights in China, 25 Years After Tiananmen Square

Posted on June 5, 2014 by Reggie Littlejohn

Reggie Littlejohn and her husband, Robert, have taken into their family Anni and Ruli Zhang, the children of detained Tiananmen hero Zhang Lin. Anni (bottom, left) is known as "China's youngest prisoner of conscience.

Reggie Littlejohn and her husband, Robert, have taken into their family Anni and Ruli Zhang, the children of detained Tiananmen hero Zhang Lin. Anni (bottom, left) is known as "China's youngest prisoner of conscience.

Wither China, 25 Years After Tiananmen Square? Activist Reggie Littlejohn discusses the communist country’s current stance toward human rights.

By Edward Pentin

(Republished from the National Catholic Register with permission; original link at the end)

It has been 25 years since the Tiananmen Square massacre, and China is still far from enjoying religious liberty, civil freedom or democracy. The Catholic Church must still worship underground, and the country’s one-child policy continues to cause widespread human rights atrocities, particularly against women. Forced abortions continue, and the government has even reverted to placing the children of dissidents in detention.

One dissident was Zhang Lin, a nuclear physicist who has been detained nearly half a dozen times over the past 13 years. A fearless champion of human rights, Lin wasn’t at Tiananmen but led protests as part of the pro-democracy movement in his hometown. He currently remains behind bars for speaking out against the Chinese Communist Party.

But his 10-year-old daughter, Anni, managed to escape China last year, and is being taken care of by Reggie Littlejohn, founder of the group Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, which has long been campaigning for an end to the one child policy and forced abortion in China. She is also looking after Lin’s older, 19-year-old daughter, Ruli.

To find out more about the current situation in the country, and Anni’s remarkable escape, the Register spoke with Littlejohn when she recently visited Rome.

What is the current situation regarding freedom and human rights in China, 25 years since Tiananmen Square?

Tiananmen Square happened in 1989; the one-child policy happened in 1980, so the pro-democracy movement and the one-child policy have been growing in parallel. I would say, in terms of democracy in China, things have actually gotten worse.

Friends of mine I’ve spoken to who were actually at Tiananmen Square at the time, tell me the massacre was absolutely beyond anything one could imagine. But at the time the government allowed people to gather on Tiananmen Square, whereas today there’s no freedom of assembly.

If you go there today, one person with a sign that says “Freedom in China” or anything like that will be immediately detained and whisked off the Square.

Some reports suggested China was loosening its one-child policy. Is this true?

There is a misperception that China has loosened its one-child policy. On Jan. 1 of this year, they made a slight adjustment to the policy, so that if one member is an only child, that couple can have a second child. But according to the Chinese Communist Party, this is “no big deal” — that’s a quote from them, from national family planning officials.

The point is the core of the coercion with which the policy is enforced. So it doesn’t really matter whether the government is to allow one or more children, what matters is that they are telling people how many children they can have and are enforcing that limit coercively. … They did this [minor policy change] 100% for demographic reasons: They see they are entering a demographic winter in China, have a sharply rising elderly population, and sharply dwindling younger population, so there’s no way to support the elderly population and they don’t have the security.

There are at least 37 million more males than females in China today, which is driving sexual slavery. … So while they have instituted the one-child policy for economic purposes, they have also written their own economic death sentence through the one-child policy. They are willing to tweak it, adjust it, to find some way to somehow get more people in while maintaining the coercion, keep some kind of a limit where it is one or two children. But there’s always a limit that can be enforced by coercion. Coercion is the core of the policy, not the number of children that are born.

Could you tell us a little about how you came to rescue Anni, the daughter of Zhang Lin?

I found out about Anni from Zhang Lin last April. I got a call from a friend who’s president of Women’s Rights in China, to say that this little girl Anni had been detained by the Chinese Communist Party overnight. She was denied food, water, blankets. She had been in school and called to principal’s office, but then she was basically kidnapped by four unidentified men who lied to her, told her they were taking her to see her father but were actually taking her to a detention center, where she was detained without food, water or blankets and not knowing where her father was. She was finally returned to her father and they remained in detention for a total of 24 hours together.

Protests followed and what happened then, how did you become involved?

At that point, I got the news about Anni and was made aware of it. I was given the opportunity to be on [Chinese] national radio [based in New York] with her and her father [via telephone]. The host said: “You’re a women’s rights activist in the U.S. Anni is an emerging women’s rights activist in China. Do you want to speak to each other?” We said yeah, sure.

I said to Annie: “I’m so impressed with you, your courage and how articulate you are. If you remain pure, humble, and true, you can help lead the people to freedom.” I felt this really strong bond with her over this national radio program.

You say Anni is a survivor of China’s one-child policy?

Yes, Anni’s mother was chased by family-planning police and had to hide because they were trying to forcibly abort Anni. I didn’t even know about this when I made the decision to take her into my home that she’s a survivor of the one-child policy.

Can you tell us a little about how she escaped?

She and her father were demonstrating in front of her elementary school in Hefei, Anhui’s provincial capital. They deported them back to their hometown of Bengbu and put them under house arrest and for months they couldn’t leave the house and were under surveillance. Then they escaped house arrest, became fugitives, and were caught, just Anni and him as the older daughter, Ruli, was in college.

When he was caught, Lin knew he was going back into detention so got a message out to me that both he and Anni wanted Anni to come to the U.S. because she couldn’t live a normal life in China. I said: “Where are they going to go? Let me call my extremely awesome husband.” I explained the situation to him, reminding him of Zhang Lin, and saying she needs a place to go. So he said well she can come and live with us.

Then came the very long and arduous process of trying to get them to the U.S. There are four people currently in detention for helping Anni: her father who has not been sentenced yet — they are likely to give him a heavy sentence because his original crime had to do with him being involved with pro-democracy protests of Tiananmen Square and this is the 25th anniversary, so why not make an example out of him? — two other people who were part of the protests in front of the elementary school, and someone who gave them shelter, Yao Cheng.

When my husband sent a letter of invitation for them to come and be with us to the U.S., they were brought to Shanghai. They were under surveillance and so gave their cellphones to friends of theirs to take to the mall so police would think they’d gone to the mall. … Yao Cheng was caught and is still in detention. So there are four people still detained for helping Anni.

They [the government] let Anni go but made it very costly. How could they keep her? She was like the poster child for children of dissidents. [The human rights activist] Chen Guangcheng went through this, too. This is what the Chinese Communist Party will do.

We learned recently that the sentencing of Zhang Lin, the father of Anni and Ruli, has been delayed by six months. This is the second delay in sentencing since he was tried last December. He has already been in jail for nine months, and he won’t even be sentenced for another six months. We wonder if this is due to his involvement with the Tiananmen Square movement, and that he might be getting harsher treatment because of the 25th anniversary.

My opinion is that it’s extremely cowardly: If they cannot silence people by persecuting them directly, they will attempt to silence them by persecuting their children. This is, in my opinion, state-sponsored official child abuse, and Women’s Rights Without Frontiers denounces persecution of children of dissidents, an act which is at once brutal and cowardly, and seems like an act of desperation by a regime that is feeling threatened about its legitimacy.

It’s important to reveal this to expose the Chinese government.

Yes, the persecution of children of Chinese dissidents. There are other incidents but this is typical of what they do and the word needs to get out in the West about this. This [China] is who the world is kowtowing to because of financial debts. This is a government that will persecute a 10-year-old girl and not let her go to school. She’s done nothing wrong herself, just that her father stood up for freedom in China.

View original article on ncregister.com: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/whither-china-25-years-after-tiananmen-square/

Posted in abortion, China, China's One Child Policy, Forced Abortion, Reggie Littlejohn, Uncategorized, Women's Rights Without Frontiers, Zhang Anni, Zhang Lin, Zhang Ruli | Comments Off on Profile: Reggie Littlejohn discusses human rights in China, 25 Years After Tiananmen Square

Daughters of Tiananmen Hero Plead for his Release – Open Letter

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Reggie Littlejohn
Zhang Lin and Anni, taken before Zhang Lin's arrest on July 18, 2013. Photo credit: Hu Jia

Zhang Lin and Anni, taken before Zhang Lin's arrest on July 18, 2013. Photo credit: Hu Jia

Veteran activist Zhang Lin is currently serving his fifth detention for his renowned pro-democracy advocacy. When the Tiananmen Square massacre occurred, Zhang Lin bravely refused to leave his post as the leader of the pro-democracy protests in Bengbu City, Anhui Province. Immediately after June 4, he was jailed for a year and then spent two years in a Chinese forced labor camp. During this time, and in subsequent detentions, he was beaten and tortured. His health has been broken to the point that when he was most recently released, his daughter Anni, who was eight years old at the time, had to care for him because he could not move.

When the Chinese Communist Party could not silence the indomitable Zhang Lin with multiple incarcerations and tortures, they went after his young daughter, Anni. When she was just ten years old, unidentified men whisked her away from her elementary school and detained her overnight. Once freed from detention, she was not allowed to return to school. When her father exposed this abuse of his daughter, the two of them were placed under house arrest. Ultimately, Zhang Lin was detained again, on July 18, 2013. His sentencing has been delayed twice and he remains in jail today. Because there was no one to take care of Anni, last September Women’s Rights Without Frontiers was able to obtain safe passage to the United States for Anni and her older sister Ruli. We did this with the help of Congressman Chris Smith, Jing Zhang of Women’s Rights in China, and many other brave people in the United States and China. Four people remain in detention in China today because they helped Anni.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers now releases the Open Letter of Ruli and Anni Zhang, pleading for the release of their father, Zhang Lin. (The English translation is below.)

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, stated, “As the American parents of the Anni and Ruli Zhang, it is heartbreaking to witness their anguish over the ongoing detention of their heroic father, Zhang Lin. They cannot help but compare their lives of freedom and opportunity in the United States with their father’s harsh and unjust imprisonment. His crime? He exposed the fact that his ten-year-old daughter Anni was detained overnight and denied an education. The persecution of young children to silence their parents is official child abuse. It is the ultimate act of cowardice.

“It is our joy and honor to be able to help pro-democracy hero Zhang Lin by raising his daughters in our family. As he languishes in prison for his bravery, at least Zhang Lin has the comfort of knowing that his precious daughters are safe, happy and free in the United States. And I hope that he feels proud that Anni and Ruli are continuing to fight for democracy in China, from U.S. soil.

“Zhang Lin is innocent. We join his daughters in demanding his immediate and unconditional release.”

Read the text of the Open Letter of Ruli and Anni Zhang, translated into English:
Release Our Father, Tiananmen Hero Zhang Lin!
http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/blog/?p=1553

Read the original Chinese text of the Open Letter:
http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/blog/?p=1538

Posted in Hu Jia, Reggie Littlejohn, Tiananmen Square, Uncategorized, Women's Rights Without Frontiers, Zhang Anni, Zhang Lin, Zhang Ruli | Comments Off on Daughters of Tiananmen Hero Plead for his Release – Open Letter

Release Our Father, Tiananmen Hero Zhang Lin! Open Letter

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Reggie Littlejohn

Anni and Ruli Zhang arrived safely in San Francisco on September 7, 2013. They are pictured here in Golden Gate Park. Photo credit: Reggie Littlejohn

Anni and Ruli Zhang arrived safely in San Francisco on September 7, 2013. They are pictured here in Golden Gate Park. Photo credit: Reggie Littlejohn

What follows is the English translation of the June 2, 2014 Open Letter drafted by the daughters of intrepid pro-democracy activist, Zhang Lin.  To see the original Chinese version, click here:
张儒莉、张安妮 －尽快无罪释放我们的父亲——张林！
http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/blog/?p=1538

Dear President Obama, President Xi Jinping and other World Leaders,

Greetings!

We are Zhang Ruli and Zhang Anni, the daughters of Chinese pro-democracy activist Zhang Lin. At this moment our father is still jailed in the No. 1 Detention Center of Bengbu City of China’s Anhui Province. He was accused of “disturbing public order,” but our father did nothing wrong! It has been more than 10 months since he was arrested on the evening of July 18th, 2013, and the verdict was delayed twice: the latest was from May 20th of this year to November 20th. We now ask the Chinese government again: please unconditionally release our father as soon as possible!

Last February, our father brought Anni from our hometown, Bengbu City, to a school in Hefei City. But simply because my father was a pro-democracy activist, 10-year-old Anni was abducted by the state police of Hefei City and was detained alone for more than 4 hours. She spent the night in detention and was not allowed to go back to school in Hefei. Little Anni was thus deprived of her education, and she kept herself at home and refused to meet people. If his 10-year-old, innocent daughter were involved and persecuted like this, what father would NOT seek justice for her? Not to mention that our father is an intrepid man!

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the 1989 democracy movement in China. In the past 25 years, has China’s democracy made any progress or improvement? I can only say, not at all — and in fact it is getting worse! In these 25 years, the Chinese Communist Party is doing everything it can to block information, causing us, the next generation of the 1989 pro-democracy activists, to be completely unaware of what atrocity they did back then. They also persecute the righteous activists like our father, causing them to be trapped in jail for years where they cannot see the light of the day. Twenty-five years ago, they lied to the Chinese people, claiming that the 1989 democracy movement in China is just “a riot and an insurgency planned, organized and performed by a small group of people, who are dominated by western powers.” This made it impossible for the Tiananmen Mothers to accept the fact that innocent students and children were slaughtered on the street, and were further accused by the state of crimes of insurgency before they were buried properly. After twenty-five years, the Chinese Communists still don’t want to repent and apologize, but rather are doing their utmost to persecute people, even reaching their evil claws to a ten-year-old child!

Before the June 4th massacre happened in 1989, our father Zhang Lin, together with student leaders of the local Business School, led the democracy movement of Bengbu City; moreover, with the assistance of managers and colleagues, he organized local people to support Beijing’s pro-democracy movement, giving speeches to local factories, businesses, causing the democracy movement of Bengbu City to come to a peak, and affecting the nearby cities. When the massacre happened on June 4th 1989, our father was only 26 years old and refused to leave his position for promoting democracy. He firmly believed that as long as the democracy movement would persist, the Chinese democracy would improve. However, the reality was opposite to his ideal. He was immediately arrested after the June 4th massacre, and was jailed for more than one year, and then another two years of “Lao Jiao” (Labor Camp). In jail, he was treated inhumanely, and he went on a hunger strike to protest. But what he got from the hunger strike was more beating and electric chair shocking. His hunger strike ended with forced feeding. Now the Chinese communist party has afflicted him for these 25 years. He was jailed four times during this period, and was sentenced to a total of 13 years in jail, not to mention other numerous subpoenas, interrogations and detentions that he experienced, and also constant eavesdropping and monitoring by the Chinese government. The Labor Camp caused our father a lot of suffering. He was often jailed together with sick inmates or violent criminals, and the jail guards often encouraged other inmates to give him beatings, only stopping them when it got serious. And our father was not properly treated after these beatings or ill treatments, causing him to bear a lot of impossible-to-cure illnesses to this day. Now, it is the fifth time our father has gone to jail. He cannot bear the torture anymore, both physically and psychologically — and in retrospect, what wrong did he do?

Now we have come to the United States. We are receiving a democratic education and are able to enjoy a free life. As offspring of a 1989 democracy activist, we will continue our father’s faith and pursuit, trying to develop ourselves into mainstays of the Chinese democracy movement, and contribute to our home country. Lastly, we would like to again appeal to world leaders: please continue to pay attention to the Chinese 1989 democracy movement that happened 25 years ago, check to make sure that the Chinese government will recover the truth of what happened back then. Urge the Chinese government to stop persecuting courageous people like our father, and give us back a democratic China!

Ruli and Anni Zhang,
Daughters of Pro-Democracy Activist Zhang Lin

Translated by : Linghou Ba

Posted in Reggie Littlejohn, Tiananmen Square, Uncategorized, Women's Rights Without Frontiers, Zhang Anni, Zhang Lin, Zhang Ruli | 1 Comment

张儒莉、张安妮 －尽快无罪释放我们的父亲——张林！

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Reggie Littlejohn

Zhang Lin and his daughter Anni. Photo credit: Hu Jia

Zhang Lin and his daughter Anni. Photo credit: Hu Jia

尊敬的奥巴马总统，习近平主席以及各国首领：

你们好！

我们是中国人权捍卫者、著名民主异议人士、中国在押政治犯张林之女张儒莉和张安妮。父亲张林自2013年7月18日晚被捕至今，已被严重超期非法刑拘10个月之久，目前仍被以“扰乱公共场所秩序罪”关押在中国安徽省蚌埠市第一看守所。当局对我父亲的案子是既不审理也不放人，审判已被先后延期了两次，最近一次是从2014年5月20日延期到11月20日。鉴于我们非常清醒的知道到父亲根本就没有做错什么，因此，我们今天再次向国际社会呼吁，强烈要求中国政府：尽快无罪释放我们的父亲——张林！

去年2月，父亲张林带着妹妹张安妮从家乡安徽蚌埠转学到合肥。但因爸爸是民主异议人士，小安妮就被合肥市国保绑架拘留了24小时，并从此不让返回合肥的学校上学。小安妮至此失学了，终日在家郁郁寡欢不肯见人。试想10岁女儿无辜受牵连遭迫害，哪一个做父亲的不会为女儿伸张正义讨回公道？何况是一位勇敢无畏的父亲！

今年是89民运的25周年。在这25年里，中国的经济似乎被表面的繁华浮夸所掩盖替代，但这能证明和代表中国的民主得到改善了吗？我只想说：没有进步反而倒退了！在这25年，中共当局用尽一切办法封锁消息，让89民运之后的下一代们完全不知道当年残暴行为的存在，迫害像我们父亲一样的民运正义人士，使他们备受牢狱之灾。25年前他们欺骗大众，利用军队强行让中国大陆的所有媒体声称89民运只是“一小撮人在西方势力操纵下有组织、有计划、有预谋发动的动乱和暴乱”。这让天安门母亲如何接受这残酷的现实：无辜的学生孩子惨死街头，尸骨未寒之时又被扣上反叛的罪名。25年后的今天，中共当局不仅不肯悔改曾经犯下的罪恶行为，反而变本加厉继续迫害和打压人权捍卫者、民主异议人士、民间维权人士和良心犯等，更有甚者的是把魔爪伸向了如我妹妹一样年仅10岁的孩子！

想当年64事件发生前夕，父亲张林与其他学生领袖共同领导了安徽蚌埠的民运，并在同仁领导的帮助下，组织人马支援北京，在当地的工厂及企业单位进行演讲，使蚌埠民运达到了高潮并影响了周边城市。64发生时， 26岁的他坚守阵地不愿离去，坚信只要坚持下去，中国民主就会有所改善。可现实与理想背道而驰，64之后他就被捕，在被关押1年多之后又被判处劳教2年多。在狱中，他更是遭受非人的待遇。父亲为此绝食抗争，但绝食换来的却是更多的酷刑，如遭受电刑和惨无人道的殴打虐待，最后以被灌水灌食结束绝食。如今25年过去了，中共当局因其当年支持并参与89民运而整整折磨了他25年。这期间，他先后4次入狱，累计刑期13年，而其它各种打压、恐吓、传唤、拘留、软禁等更是不计其数，监听监控则是一刻都没有松懈过。早年的劳教让爸爸吃尽了苦头，经常把他和有疾病的犯人或是有暴力倾向的杀人犯关在一起，狱警也是时不时的鼓动其他犯人对爸爸进行殴打，直到事态严重了才适当制止。殴打与虐待之后，得不到及时有效的治疗，所以导致他有一身治不好的疾病。现在，第5次入狱的他，身体和心理已经经受不起监狱的折磨，但回想起来，我们想问中共当局：我们的父亲，他到底做错了什么？！

如今我们有幸来到了美国，接受了民主教育并得以享受自由生活。作为89民运的下一代，我们依旧会传承我们父辈们的精神和理念，努力发展自己，争取成为中国民主运动新兴力量的中流砥柱，为祖国奉献我们的力量。最后在这里我们再次向各国领导人呼吁：请你们继续关注25年前的89民运，敦促中共当局还原当年8964的真相，停止对像我们父亲一样的民主勇士、人权捍卫者的迫害，还我们一个真正民主自由的国家！

中国大陆人权捍卫者、在押政治犯 张林之女：张儒莉、张安妮

Posted in Tiananmen Square, Uncategorized, Women's Rights Without Frontiers, Zhang Anni, Zhang Lin, Zhang Ruli | Tagged | 1 Comment

June 1 Children’s Day – China Should Stop Forced Abortion and Gendercide

Posted on June 1, 2014 by Reggie Littlejohn

Bao-yo and her twin sister Hui-Ying, were rescued by WRWF's "Save a Girl" Campaign

Today, all provinces in China will celebrate “Children’s Day” with lavish children’s art exhibitions and performances. Meanwhile, no mention will be made of the fact that China has “prevented” more than 400 million children from being born, often by forced abortion, through its brutal One Child Policy. In addition, millions of Chinese baby girls are being aborted, just because they are girls.

Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, stated, “The people of China cherish their children, but the government of China is crushing them. If the Chinese government truly cared about children, it would stop forcibly aborting them. If they truly cared about girls, they would take strong measures to stop the selective abortion of females. It is hypocrisy for the Chinese government to sponsor a lavish media event such as Children’s Day, meanwhile destroying children behind the scenes.”

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers has launched a “Save a Girl” campaign to save women from forced abortion and baby girls from gendercide, and to extend a helping hand to families who are so poor that their daughters are at risk. Our network of fieldworkers on the ground in China visits women who are thinking of aborting or abandoning their baby girls. We offer them monthly stipends for a year to help them keep their daughters.The program has met with great success — women are choosing to keep their baby daughters, with our encouragement and help.

Hui-ying, one of two twin girls rescued by WRWF's "Save a Girl" Campaign

One recent example involves the mother of babies Bao-yo and Hui-ying (names have been changed to protect their identities). When their mother learned she was pregnant, she was thrilled. Soon, however, her in-laws began pressuring her to have a boy, so she went to a local hospital to have an ultrasound performed to determine the sex of the child. If it were a boy, she would have the baby. If it were a girl, she would abort. What would have been double her happiness turned to double despair: she was pregnant with not one, but two girls. When her husband’s family found out the news, they were furious with their daughter-in-law. She didn’t know what to do.

But one of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers’ undercover fieldworkers found this frightened woman and told her about our “Save a Girl” campaign. The pregnant mother and her husband could not believe an American organization would care about their daughters. Our fieldworker showed them pictures and told them stories of other families we have helped, other families who chose to join with us in believing that girls matter just as much as boys. The couple was convinced and overjoyed. Through the aid of one year of WRWF monthly stipends, they chose to keep their baby girls and soon precious twins were born. Now, the mother-in-law who had been so furious has changed her attitude. She enjoys the two new angels in her life and appreciates our help. We are saving lives and changing the culture one family at a time!

Learn more about our “Save a Girl” Campaign here:
http://womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=end-gendercide-and-forced-abortion

Posted in abortion, China, China's One Child Policy, gendercide, human dignity, International Day of the Girl Child, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, Save a Girl, Uncategorized, Women's Rights Without Frontiers | Comments Off on June 1 Children’s Day – China Should Stop Forced Abortion and Gendercide

Chinese Doctor Who Trafficked Infants Given Suspended Death Sentence

Posted on January 14, 2014 by Reggie Littlejohn

BEIJING. A Chinese obstetrician who trafficked seven infants has been given a suspended death sentence. She convinced the parents to give up their healthy babies by telling them that the babies were dying of fabricated incurable diseases.

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, stated, “Our hearts go out to the parents who gave up their newborns because this obstetrician, whom they trusted, lied to them and told them that their children were dying of an incurable disease. We can only imagine the sense of loss and betrayal they must feel.”

According to a Voice of America report, the court papers state that Zhang sold seven babies to traffickers. She received more than twice as much for a baby boy ($7,700) as she did for a baby girl ($3,300). Six of the infants have been returned to their parents.  The seventh died in the hands of a trafficker.  She did not likely act alone. Local officials, the head of the hospital, and the head of the local health department have been fired.

Yet the corruption of this obstetrician and the local officials surrounding her is just the tip of the iceberg. According Wu Xinghu, who lost his own newborn to traffickers five years ago, hospital complicity with trafficking is not unusual. Wu told VOA that Zhang Shuxia “was a scapegoat when the case became too big to be covered up.”

While official numbers do not exist, experts estimate that between 70,000 and 200,000 children are trafficked each year in China. The U.S. Department of State’s 2013 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report downgraded China to being a Tier 3 nation, a status it now shares with Iran, Libya, Sudan and North Korea.

Littlejohn continued, “The One Child Policy is the driving force in this trafficking. Couples who do not have a son want to obtain a boy through trafficking. Couples who already have a son may want to traffic a girl into their family, to ensure that their son will have a bride when he grows up. In China, the marriage market is on the road to collapse. Because of the pronounced gender imbalance caused by gendercide – the selective abortion of baby girls — there are currently about 37 million more males living in China than females.” The 2013 TIP Report states, “The [Chinese] government did not address the effects its birth limitation policy had in creating a gender imbalance and fueling trafficking, particularly through bride trafficking and forced marriage.”

Related links:

Harsh Sentence Provides Little Comfort in China Human Trafficking Scandal 1/14/14
http://www.voanews.com/content/harsh-sentence-provides-little-comfort-in-china-human-trafficking-scandal/1829489.html

Doctor Guilty of Trafficking Newborns in China 1/14/14
http://www.torontosun.com/2014/01/14/doctor-guilty-of-trafficking-newborns-in-china

2013 TIP Report (See pp. 128-131)
www.state.gov/documents/organization/210738.pdf

It’s a Girl film trailer (3 mins)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISme5-9orR0

Doctor Guilty of Trafficking Newborns in China 1/14/14
http://www.torontosun.com/2014/01/14/doctor-guilty-of-trafficking-newborns-in-china

Posted in gendercide, human trafficking, It's a Girl, One Child Policy, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Chinese Doctor Who Trafficked Infants Given Suspended Death Sentence

China: woman forced to abort at seven months says, “I feel like a walking corpse”

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Reggie Littlejohn

BEIJING. An AP report describes the heartbreaking aftermath of the forced abortion of Gong Qifeng. Seven months pregnant with her second son, she was pinned down to a table by several people and forcibly aborted, as she begged for mercy. Gong stated, “It [the forced abortion] has become a mental pain. I feel like a walking corpse.” Her subsequent diagnosis of schizophrenia graphically demonstrates the untold mental and emotional violence that forced abortion unleashes against the women of China.

Gong’s experience is reminiscent of the searing Congressional testimony of Wujian, who suffered a late-term forced abortion in which her baby was dismembered and removed from her piece by piece while she was fully awake. http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=cases&nav2=wujian#anchor

Not only mental breakdowns but also female suicides are among the heartbreaking consequences of the coercive enforcement of the One Child Policy. According to the 2012 Department of State Human Rights Report on China, the number of women committing suicide has risen to 590 from 500 a day in 2009. Two of the factors cited include “the traditional preference for male children, [and] birth limitation policies.”

Chinese demographer Liang Zhongtang was courageous in making this pronouncement regarding the adjustment that couples in which one parent is an only child can have a second child: “The system has not changed at all. It still forbids you from having more children than permitted by the government, so the game – and forced later-term abortions – are unavoidable if you want to have children the government does not allow.” This statement cuts against all the recent media coverage that China is “easing” its One Child Policy. It is not.

Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, stated, “This minor adjustment will not affect many families in China. Even those families who can now have a second child will need government permission to get pregnant. If they get pregnant without a permit, they may still be subject to forced abortion. I fully expect that we will continue to see forced abortions and sterilizations of Chinese women in 2014 and beyond. This violence must stop. We will continue our efforts until all coercive family planning in China has ended.”

Are Gong Qifeng and her husband likely to get any help from officials back in their hometown? Typically, women who are forcibly aborted because of an illegal pregnancy are not compensated. Their act of getting pregnant without a permit is considered a crime. Because of international pressure, however, this couple may get some help from local officials. The family of forced abortion victim Feng Jianmei was compensated, however inadequately, because of international pressure. The Chinese Communist Party boasts that it has prevented 400 million lives through the One Child Policy. We will never know how many of these were late term forced abortions, where the women were not compensated in any way.

Click here to watch a 4-minute video, “Stop Forced Abortion – China’s War on Women!”

http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/?nav=stop-forced-abortion

Click here to sign a petition against forced abortion in China.

http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=sign_our_petition

Read the original AP story here:

Forced abortions highlight abuses in One-Child Policy

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/forced-abortion-highlights-abuses-china-policy

Posted in abortion, China's One Child Policy, coerced abortion, female suicide, Forced Abortion, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, Reggie Littlejohn, reproductive rights, right to choose, Uncategorized | Comments Off on China: woman forced to abort at seven months says, “I feel like a walking corpse”

We have matching funds! Please donate to help the women and children of China!

Posted on December 24, 2013 by Reggie Littlejohn

Dear Friends:

This holiday season please remember the women and babies of China, who are enduring conditions that are beyond imagination.  At this moment, there are women in China who have gotten pregnant without a “birth permit” and are in danger of beging dragged away for a forced abortion, up to the ninth month of pregnancy. Baby girls in China are in danger of selective abortion and abandonment.



A generous donor has offered to match the first $4000.00 in donations! So please be as generous as you can, and your donation will be doubled!



You may have heard that China is easing its One Child Policy. This is not true. “China Hasn’t ‘Eased’ It’s One Child Policy,” 11/18/13 http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/364200/china-hasnt-eased-its-one-child-policy-reggie-littlejohn

The brutality continues. This October Liu Xinwen was forcibly aborted at 6 months. Twenty Family Planning Officials burst into her home at 4:00 a.m., restrained her husband, and dragged her off to the hospital, where they forcibly aborted her son and left him in a bucket beside her bed. China reports that it has 13 million abortions a year. That’s 35,000 a day, or almost 1500 an hour. The brutality of China’s forced abortion policy is repeated thousands of times every day. Meanwhile, China leads the world in the sex-selective abortion of baby girls.

Our Save a Girl campaign is saving the lives of baby girls at risk of being aborted or abandoned because of son preference in China! We also have saved Zhang Anni, the persecuted daughter of dissident Zhang Lin. She was called “the youngest prisoner of conscience in China.” We raised the visibility of her case internationally and then conducted quiet diplomacy to get her out of China. She and her sister are now living with my husband and me, and we are raising her as our own in our home.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers has been called the “leading voice” in the battle against forced abortion and gendercide in China. We have testified six times at the U.S. Congress, three times at the European Parliament, twice at the British Parliament, and have briefed the Canadian Parliament, the State Department, the White House, the United Nations and the Vatican. Our efforts have born fruit. Both the European Parliament and the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women have issued statements condemning forced abortion. We are unique in having the attention of both the left and the right. In February I briefed the United Nations; in September I met with Pope Francis at the Vatican; in November I was the keynote speaker at an Amnesty International event in Hong Kong.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers needs your support to continue. We need to raise $50,000.00 to continue our work. Please prayerfully consider partnering with us in fighting perhaps the greatest injustice of our age.

The women and babies of China urgently need your help! If you are led to partner with us, please send a check made out to Women’s Rights Without Frontiers to:

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers

1919 Gunston Way

San Jose, CA 95124

WRWF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by U.S. law.

Many thanks,

Reggie Littlejohn, President
Women’s Rights Without Frontiers

Posted in Forced Abortion, gendercide, Reggie Littlejohn, Save a Girl, Uncategorized, Women's Rights Without Frontiers | Comments Off on We have matching funds! Please donate to help the women and children of China!