Womens Rights Without Frontiers

Reggie Littlejohn at Capitol Hill Press Conference Speaks on Why a Two-Child Policy Will Not End the Injustice of the One Child Policy: CNS News Video

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Reggie Littlejohn

Reggie Littlejohn at a Capitol Hill press conference, with boxes containing 200,000 signatures on the petition to end forced abortion and gendercide in China

On Wednesday, Reggie Littlejohn and Rep. Chris Smith spoke at a press conference on the U.S. Capitol, as part of the Coalition Against Gendercide. Here is a CNS News Clip of Reggie’s warning that instituting a Two Child Policy will not resolve the tragic suffering brought about by the One Child Policy.

http://cnsnews.com/video/national/reggie-littlejohn-president-womens-rights-without-frontiers

In addition to Reggie Littlejohn and Rep. Smith, speakers at the press conference included Coalition Against Gendercide members Sam Casey of the Jubilee Campaign, Sarah Torre of The Heritage Foundation and Alison Howard of Concerned Women of America.

Posted in China, Forced Abortion, gendercide, One Child Policy, two child policy, Uncategorized | Comments Off

China: Blind Activist Chen Guangcheng’s Relatives Receive Death Threats

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Reggie Littlejohn

Chen Kegui, File Photo

Dongshigu Village, Shandong Province. In late April 2012, blind activist Chen Guangcheng dazzled the world by scaling the back wall of his compound and eluding the frustrated grasp of the Chinese Communist security machine. As though to punish him on the anniversary of his escape, Chen’s relatives in Dongshigu Village are being seriously harassed and subjected to death threats.

Chen Guangcheng spent years in jail, then under severe house arrest, after he exposed the widespread, systematic use of forced abortion and involuntary sterilization in Linyi City, Shandong Province, in 2005.

According to reports by Yaxue Cao of “Seeing Red in China” and by Chinese Human Rights Defenders, harassment of Chen’s relatives has intensified greatly in the past several weeks. Chen’s older brother, Chen Guangfu, has reported that his home has been pelted with stones, breaking windows and damaging the roof. Also, dead chickens and ducks have been thrown onto his property, together with fake money that is burned for the dead. According to the CHRD, “[t]his is a curse and a threat used by the local villagers; it means death and conveys the idea that killing the person is as easy as killing a chicken or a duck.” Flyers have been posted around Dongshigu Village denouncing Chen Guangcheng and Chen Guangfu.

Wednesday afternoon, authorities detained Chen Guangfu’s wife, allegedly for “hiding and sheltering a criminal.” This “criminal” would be her son, Chen Kegui. On April 26, 2012, after discovering that Chen Guangcheng was missing, authorities burst into the home of Chen Guangfu, dragged him away, and beat his wife and son, Chen Kegui. Fearing for his life, Kegui grabbed a kitchen knife to defend himself. According to Congressional testimony of Chen Guangcheng, these officials did not sustain any major injuries. Nevertheless, Kegui was charged with attempted murder. He was later convicted of “intentional injury” and sentenced to three years and three months in prison.

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s rights Without Frontiers, stated, “We condemn the persecution of the relatives of Chen Guangcheng by Chinese Communist thugs. This harassment is clearly designed to silence him as one of the leading voices in the world to expose the brutality of this regime. The Chinese government will even stoop to detain without food or water a 10-year-old child in an attempt to silence her activist father, as in the case of Zhang Anni, earlier this month. We urge Chinese President Xi Jinping to stop the harassment of Chen Guangcheng’s relatives in Dongshigu Village. We call upon President Obama and Secretary Kerry to urgently intervene on behalf of Chen Guangcheng’s relatives in China.”

Related links:
Chen Guangcheng’s Family Under Intense Harassment Lately
http://seeingredinchina.com/2013/04/24/chen-guangchengs-family-under-intense-harassment-lately/

Chinese Human Rights Defenders Report on Recent Harassment of Chen’s Relatives
http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2013/04/blog-post_9728.html

Translation of the CHRD Report
http://www.chinaaid.org/2013/04/chinese-human-rights-defenders-reports.html

Congressional Testimony of Chen Guangcheng, April 9, 201
http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing/subcommittee-hearing-chen-guangcheng-and-gao-zhisheng-human-rights-china

China: Ten-Year-Old Girl Detained, Denied Food and Water
http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/blog/?p=1036

Chen Kegui, File Photo

Posted in Chen Guangcheng, chen guangfu, Chen Kegui, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, Seeing Red in China, Uncategorized, Yaxue Cao | 1 Comment

WRWF’s Reggie Littlejohn Partners in Screening of “It’s a Girl” Documentary on Gendercide in India and China

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Reggie Littlejohn

Reggie Littlejohn at the U.S. Capitol

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers is partnering with Rep. Chris Smith and Rep. Jim McDermott in a bipartisan screening of the “It’s a Girl” documentary about gendercide in India and China. Below is the text of her remarks, to be delivered today at 5:30 p.m. at the United States Capitol Visitors Center.

Thank you, Rep. Smith, Rep. McDermott and distinguished guests. It is truly an honor to be given this opportunity to address one of the great human rights issues of our age: violence against women in the form of systematic, widespread sex-selective abortion.

According to one U.N estimate, there are up to 200 million women missing in the world today due to gendercide.

Forced abortion is not a choice. More often than not, gendercide is not a choice either. There is a strong correlation between sex-selective abortion and coercion. Crushing social, economic, political and personal pressures in cultures with a strong son preference trample women carrying girls. All too often, women in these cultures do not “select” their daughters for abortion. They are forced.

In China, the birth ratio of girls to boys is the most skewed in the world: approximately 100 girls born for every 119 boys. Sons traditionally carry on the family name, work the fields, and take care of their parents in old age. A daughter joins her husband’s family at marriage. There is a saying: “Raising a girl is like watering someone else’s garden.” The One Child Policy exacerbates the underlying son preference. When couples are restricted to one child, women often become the focus of intense pressure by their husband and in-laws to ensure a boy.

A woman need not be dragged out of her home and strapped down to a table to be a victim of forced abortion. Persistent emotional pressure, estrangement from the extended family, threat of abandonment or divorce, verbal abuse, and domestic violence often overpower women who otherwise would choose to keep their daughters.

Systematic, sex-selective abortion constitutes gendercide. Because of this gendercide, there are an estimated 37 million more men than women in China today. The presence of these “excess males” is the driving force behind human trafficking and sexual slavery, not only within China but from surrounding nations as well.

Finally, China has the highest female suicide rate of any country in the world. According to the U.S. State Department China Human Rights Report released last Friday, the numbers of female suicide have risen sharply in the past several years, from 500 women per day to 590.

It is a woman’s right to choose to give birth to her daughters. Together, China and India comprise one third of the world’s population. That one-third of the world’s women are deprived of their right to bear girls is the biggest women’s rights abuse on earth. This is the true War on Women, and it deserves a passionate response from groups that stand for women’s rights.

Fortunately, there is hope. Women’s Rights Without Frontiers has launched the “Save a Girl” Campaign in rural China, and we are stopping gendercide, one baby girl at a time. We have field workers in China who reach out to women who have had an ultrasound, learned that they are pregnant with a girl, and are planning to abort or abandon her. A field worker will visit that woman and say, “Don’t abort your baby just because she’s a girl. She’s a precious daughter. We will give you a monthly stipend for a year, to help you support her.”

The practical support we offer empowers these women to keep their daughters. By the time the girl is three months old, she’s laughing and smiling and the whole family is in love with her. They can’t imagine life without her and thank us for saving the life of their daughter. This is what gets me out of bed in the morning – knowing that there are babies in China who are alive today because of our efforts. It’s astonishing how little money it takes to save someone’s life in China.

This is the official “It’s a Girl” film’s action campaign for China. We would like to expand this campaign. Every struggling mother in China deserves help to keep her daughter. Together, we can end gendercide and sweep sex-selective abortion into the dung-heap of history, where it belongs.

Learn more about the Save a Girl Campaign here:

http://womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=end-gendercide-and-forced-abortion

Posted in China, China's One Child Policy, coerced abortion, female suicide, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, gendercide, It's a Girl, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, Reggie Littlejohn, Save a Girl, Uncategorized, women's rights, Women's Rights Without Frontiers | Comments Off

China: Ten-Year-Old Girl Detained, Denied Food and Water

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Reggie Littlejohn

Zhang Anni

HEFEI CITY, ANHUI PROVINCE. February 27, 2013 began like any other school day for ten-year-old Zhang Anni. Little did she know that this day she would be ordered to the principal’s office, whisked away by four unidentified men, and detained without food or water, and without knowing where her father was, for 20 hours. Anni’s crime? Her father, activist Zhang Lin, had exposed government corruption.

I had the rare privilege of speaking directly with Anni and her father on a national internet radio program broadcast throughout China this evening. Their story filled me with indignation. Anni has still not been allowed to return to school. No legitimate government would detain, starve and deny education to a ten-year-old.

According to her father, their case has sparked national outrage in China. 500 people have dropped their jobs and traveled to demonstrate outside Anni’s former school, the Hupo Elementary School in Heifei. Some protesters are hunger striking. Zhang says he is deeply touched by the love and sacrifice of these supporters.

Those demonstrating are showing not only love for Zhang and Anni, but also the awakening of an increasingly bold contempt for the Chinese Communist Party’s brutal persecution of the children of dissidents. Such persecution is routine in China. Blind activist Chen Guangcheng’s son had to move away from his parents in order to go to school. His daughter was only allowed to go to school after intense domestic and international pressure was applied. Now, the Chinese Communist Party has detained and tortured Chen Guangcheng’s nephew, Chen Kegui.

I believe that the Chinese Communist Party persecutes, detains and tortures the families of dissidents in an attempt to silence them. The CCP will commit serious human rights violations against children to stifle freedom of speech. This is state-sponsored child abuse.

Activist Zhang Lin participated in the 1989 democracy protests in Anhui Province. A prolific dissident writer, he has been jailed multiple times and subjected to continuous monitoring, according to an HRIC report.

Meanwhile, Anni was fearless and articulate in speaking with me on national radio. Her father commented, “Anni is strong. She’s been dealing with the police since she was two years old. She knows how to handle them.”

What an extraordinary girl. It was an honor to speak with her. I told her, “Be brave, be true, be humble, and one day you will help lead your people to freedom.”

With 1.3 billion people living in China — one fifth of the population on earth — the world will not be free until the people of China are free.

Posted in Chen Guangcheng, Chen Kegui, China, human dignity, Human Rights, Reggie Littlejohn, Uncategorized, Women's Rights Without Frontiers, Zhang Anni, Zhang Lin | Tagged child abuse | Comments Off

China: Woman Dies After Forced Sterilization

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Reggie Littlejohn

Dabancheng Village, Hubei Province. A mother of two died after a forced sterilization, which took place against a doctor’s orders, Women’s Rights in China reports.

On March 19, a doctor at Tongshan County warned that sterilizing Shen Hongxia would be life-threatening. Nevertheless, local Family Planning Officers forcibly sterilized her, in order to avoid an “illegal pregnancy.” Shen Hongxia, 42, died, leaving behind her husband and two children, one of whom is two years old.

The Family Planning Bureau and the Village Committee attempted to cover up their criminal responsibility by making an agreement to compensate the family by installments, and to build them a house. Family members felt forced to sign the agreement, as they saw no other way to seek relief.

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, stated, “Women’s Rights Without Frontiers strongly condemns forced sterilization and all coercive family planning in China. The fact that Shen Hongxia’s doctor had clearly warned that sterilizing her could kill her makes her death the responsibility of the Family Planning Officers who forced this violent surgery upon her. Compensating her family with money is not enough. Those responsible for her death should face serious criminal charges.”

This is the second death related to forced sterilization in March alone. In the other case, a woman who had been forcibly sterilized twice was found hanging in her local Family Planning Office, under suspicious circumstances. [Warning, Graphic photo] http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/blog/?p=986

Littlejohn stated, “The Chinese Communist Party recently admitted to performing 196 million sterilizations. These sterilizations too often leave women butchered and maimed, and can at times be deadly. I first learned of the brutality of China’s One Child Policy by representing a woman who had been forcibly sterilized. Family Planning Officials literally dragged her out of her home kicking and screaming, held her down to a table and cut her open with no anesthesia. She said it felt like someone was burning her insides with a blowtorch. Since then she has lived in chronic pain. We need to fight forced sterilization as much as forced abortion in China.”

Sign a petition against coercive family planning here:

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

Watch a powerful, 4-minute video about forced abortion in China here:

Stop Forced Abortion – China’s War on Women!

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

WRIC seeks to connect the family of Shen Hongxia with lawyers. Read their original report here. http://www.wrchina.org/archives/416

Posted in China, China's One Child Policy, crime against humanity, forced sterilization, gendercide, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, Shen Hongxia, Uncategorized, Women's Rights in China | 1 Comment

China: Woman’s Death by Hanging at Family Planning Office – Suicide or Something Else? [WARNING – GRAPHIC PHOTO]

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Reggie Littlejohn

BEIZHANGLOU VILLAGE, HENAN PROVINCE. Earlier this month, it was reported widely in Chinese media sources that Yang Yuzhi hung herself in the Family Planning Office of Beizhanglou Village, Taikang County, Henan Province. Forcibly sterilized twice, she had for years suffered chronic pain from these traumatic procedures. Her medication drained the family finances, so she regularly petitioned the Family Planning Office for compensation, to no avail.

On March 13, according to her family, Yang was emotionally stable. There was nothing unusual, no reason to believe that she was at risk of suicide. On this day, she went as usual to press her petition at the Family Planning Office. Her family had no idea that she would never return.

Late that day, the Family Planning Commission told Yang’s family that she had committed suicide, and that they “found her body hanging at the top of the stairs.” She also appears to have been severely beaten. Her dead body was covered with bruises, and her neck was nearly severed by the wire rope from which she was hanging. Read the full story here: http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/blog/?p=969

The explanation given by the Family Planning Office raises more questions than it answers. What was Yang doing at the top of the stairs in the Family Planning Office, for an extended period of time, by herself? Was she free to wander unsupervised around the Family Planning Office, with enough time to find a wire rope, attach it securely to the ceiling or another fixture, create a noose and hang herself – all this in a state of weakness and pain caused by the beatings? Why did no one discover that Yang was in the process of hanging herself at the top of the stairs (not in a hidden closet) and stop her?

These unanswered questions raise the issue: Was this truly a suicide? Or did the Family Planning Officials torture Yang, then hang her to make it look like a suicide? Women’s Rights Without Frontiers demands an investigation.

This would not be the first time the Chinese Communist Party has been suspected of attempting to cover up a murder as “suicide.” In July 2012, well-known Tiananmen Square activist Li Wangyang was found dead, hanging in a hospital room. His friends called official claims that he had committed suicide “insulting” and “ridiculous,” according to a CNN report. Like Yang, Li was in “good spirits” the day he was found dead.

Moreover, while the world rightly stares in horror at late-term forced abortion, the death of Yang Yuzhi demonstrates the urgency of stopping forced sterilization as well. Lost in the headlines about the Chinese Communist Party’s recent admission that they have performed 336 million abortions under the One Child Policy is the fact that they also admitted to performing 196 million sterilizations. These sterilizations too often leave women butchered and maimed.

Forced sterilizations are routine. In April 2010, the Population and Family Planning Bureau detained 1,300 people in a campaign to sterilize more than 9,500 people, mostly women, in the Puning City, Guangdong Province. Those who resisted were detained, along with other family members, such as elderly grandparents.

Yang’s death also emphasizes the absence of the rule of law in China. She died while petitioning for justice. Family Planning Officials commonly regard themselves as being above the law. Rarely are they held to account for the many injustices they commit.

The death of Yang Yuzhi, if truly a suicide, also draws the connection between coercive family planning and the fact that China has the highest female suicide rate in the world. It has been reported that 500 women a day end their lives in China.

Take a stand against forced abortion and involuntary sterilization. Sign the petition here:

Petition to Stop Forced Abortion

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

Chinese Woman Commits Suicide in Family Planning Office [WARNING – GRAPHIC PHOTO]

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Reggie Littlejohn

What follows is the translation of a news story originally published in Chinese. The links to the original sources are below.

At noon on March 13th, 2013, a woman surnamed Yang was found dead, hanging inside the local Family planning office in Beizhanglou Village, Taikang County, Henan Province. According to family members, her body was covered with scars, indicating she may have been beaten before death.

Yang Yuzhi, 42 years old, was sterilized in 1995, but the first operation failed. She was then dragged and forced to undergo a second surgery by local Family Planning Commission.

Since this operation, Yang has suffered chronic pain. She has needed regular doses of medication over the next years, imposing a financial burden.

Yang thought all the pain was caused by the surgeries, so she frequently petitioned the Family Planning Commission, but to no avail.

As usual, around 12 noon on March 13, 2013, Yang went to Taikang County Family Planning Commission again.

Zhao Zhang, Yang’s son said: “At about 12:57, my father gave her a call and that was normal, but then someone from the Family Planning Commission told us, when an officer was discussing the case with the village mayor, a [Family Planning] staff member found her body hanging at the top of the stairs.

“About 2:00, they secretly used a 120 ambulance and moved her body to the morgue room of the County Hospital, but didn’t notify us.”

Yang’s family was not informed of the situation until after 5:00 p.m.

When they arrived on scene, they found that she has died at noon inside the family planning office. They found Yang’s body covered with scars, beaten black and blue. There is a deep wound around her neck and her entire neck was almost strangled. She had left home with several thousand yuan, but the money could not be found.

Yang leaves behind four children and her elderly, sick parents.

According to her family, she was emotionally normal before she went to the Family Planning Office. There was nothing unusual. They did not expect that she would never return.

How did Yang get the wire rope, where did she commit suicide, where is the money [she was carrying], and why didn’t the Family Planning Commission inform the family right away? The local officials did not give any explanation to the family.

At 3:00 p.m. on March 18th, the door of the Family Planning Commission was closed. The whole building was empty.

The original Chinese sources of this story can be found here:

Dahe Health Net

http://health.dahe.cn/jkhb/jkhbsy/201303/t20130322_465553.html#0-tsina-1-67848-397232819ff9a47a7b7e80a40613cfe1

NetEase Forum:

http://bbs.news.163.com/bbs/country/303326692.html

Posted in China's One Child Policy, forced sterilization, reproductive health, reproductive rights, right to choose, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

United Nations: WRWF’s Reggie Littlejohn Advocates Against Gendercide and Forced Abortion

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Reggie Littlejohn

Littlejohn speaks at a Congressional press conference. Credit: The Epoch Times

NEW YORK. WRWF’s Reggie Littlejohn will be speaking four times this week at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. The UNCSW is a global policy-making body dedicated to the advancement of gender equality.

Littlejohn stated, “WRWF’s work hits the center of the focus of this year’s Conference: the elimination of violence against women and girls. The coercive enforcement of China’s One Child Policy causes more violence against women and girls than any other official policy on earth, and any other official policy in the history of the world. Forced abortion – up to the ninth month of pregnancy — is official government rape. Forced sterilization and infanticide are crimes against humanity.

“The preference for sons in China has encouraged gendercide (the selective abortion of girls). Now, there are 37 million more men than women living in China today. This gender imbalance drives human trafficking and sexual slavery. And China has the highest female suicide rate of any country in the world. This is the true war against women.

“We call upon China’s incoming president, Xi Jinping, immediately to abandon all coercive population control and to end this bloody reign of terror.”

WRWF’s first three presentations were to standing-room only and overflow crowds. At two of these events, WRWF screened “It’s a Girl,” a powerful new documentary about gendercide and forced abortion in China and India. WRWF will screen the film again on Saturday, March 9 at 12:30 p.m., on the 10^th Floor of the United Nations Church Center. This screening is free and open to the public.

Littlejohn also spoke about WRWF’s “Save a Girl” Campaign, in which fieldworkers identify women pregnant with girls and encourage them not to abort or abandon their daughters. WRWF then gives these women a monthly stipend for a year, to help support these girls. “We are saving lives and ending gendercide, one baby girl at a time,” Littlejohn stated. “It is astonishing how little it takes to save a life in China. We need support to expand this highly effective campaign.”

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

Learn more about the “It’s a Girl” film:
http://www.itsagirlmovie.com/

WRWF thanks the organizations sponsoring the UNCSW events: Women’s United Nations Reporting Network, World Youth Alliance, Family Watch International, Endeavor Forum, Parliamentary Network of Critical Issues and Priests for Life. Littlejohn states, “The diversity of the sponsoring organizations demonstrates that whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, no one supports the selective abortion of girls; and no one supports forced abortion, which is not a choice.”

Posted in China's One Child Policy, coerced abortion, crime against humanity, Endeavor Forum, Family Watch International, female suicide, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, gendercide, It's a Girl, One Child Policy, Parliamentary Network of Critical Issues, Priests for Life, pro-choice, pro-life, reproductive health, reproductive rights, right to choose, Save a Girl, Uncategorized, UNCSW, United Nations, war on women, World Youth Alliance | Comments Off

China – Father’s interview about baby crushed to death during One-Child Policy enforcement confirms violent coercion

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Reggie Littlejohn

WENZHOU CITY, ZHEJIANG PROVINCE — A thirteen month old baby was crushed to death under a car containing family planning officials in Dongshantou Village near Wenshou City on Monday. Eleven officials were attempting to collect a fine from a couple who had allegedly violated China’s One Child Policy.

According to a China Daily report, the discussion became heated between the officials and the boy’s parents. The officials persuaded the child’s mother to accompany them back to nearby Ruian to discuss options, and the boy was placed in the care of his father. The family planning officials got into their cars to return to Ruian. The baby was found crushed beneath one of the cars containing Family Planning Officials.

How the baby ended up under the wheel of the vehicle has been unclear; but in this interview, the baby’s father, Chen Li has stepped forward to tell what happened in an interview published by the local Xian Dai Jin Bao News Agency:

“At noon on February 4, as we were having lunch upstairs, we heard people talking downstairs. When we got downstairs, we saw several people rushing into our room, saying that they are leaders of Qing Xiang Community, who are coming to collect the “Social Compensation Fee.” I brought chairs for them, but they refused to sit down and talk. They also threatened me, saying ‘Don’t you flee today. Today we are definitely bringing you back.’

“When we get out of my house, they were still dragging my clothes. I said, ‘You have torn my clothes.’ They said ’we will reimburse you for the clothes, but you have to go with us today.’ I said, ’I will go, but I have three children. My family wants to go together with me.’

“When we left the house, my wife was already on the vehicle. There were many neighbors around the vehicle. My two daughters were standing by the car door. My elder daughter was holding her baby brother, and the baby was crying for his mother. Then I went over to the vehicle, carrying the baby, preparing to go into the vehicle. At that moment there were seven or eight government officials inside the vehicle, and my wife was also inside. I wanted to get into the car and handed my son to my wife. The baby was crying a lot, and it was very chaotic. I don’t know who pushed me, causing my baby to drop to the ground. At that time the car started moving, and I wasn’t able to get my baby before the tire crushed him. The baby was killed.”

According to a BBC news report, thousands of furious villagers protested the death of this baby outside the local government offices; and Xinhua has reported that the van driver and the Communist Party Secretary have been arrested, though it is unclear whether they have been charged.

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, stated, “Our hearts break to learn of the violent death of an innocent child, and we extend our deepest sympathy to his parents. Those responsible for this violent death must be held accountable. Too often, under the glare of international scrutiny, the Chinese Communist Party will arrest officials who have committed a heinous human rights violation. Then as soon as the attention of the world shifts away, these same officials are restored to their former positions or even promoted.”

Littlejohn compared the incident in Dongshantou village with other cases of violent death at the hands of family planning officials, discussed in a report WRWF submitted into the Congressional Record at a hearing on September 22, 2011. Case Seven of this report gives the account of a couple with a second child in Henan Province. Family planning police smashed the father in the head with a bottle. He is now permanently disabled. In Case Twelve, in Jiangsu Province, Family Planning Officials beat a farmer to death because his son was suspected of having an extra child. http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=congressional_hearing

In April of 2011, in Linyi County, Shandong Province, a Family Planning Official murdered a man. They had come to seize his sister for a forced sterilization. Failing to find her, they started to beat their father. When the man defended his father, one of the Family Planning Officials plunged a knife in his heart, and he died. http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/blog/?p=147

Reggie Littlejohn said, “Most often, Family Planning Officials are not prosecuted for their crimes, but act with impunity. The spirit of the Red Guard lives on in the Family Planning Police, who too often function as domestic terrorists. There is a growing consensus both inside and outside China that the One Child Policy is no longer needed to control the population. China’s population problem is not that it has too many people, but that it has too few young people. This ‘senior tsunami’ that is about to hit China is a slow-motion demographic disaster. The One Child Policy simply makes no demographic sense.

“Why, then, does the Chinese Communist Party insist on keeping this Policy? In my opinion, the One Child Policy is the glue that is keeping the Chinese Communist Party in place. The purpose of the policy is to instill terror in order to repress people under the iron first of this totalitarian regime. It is social control, masquerading as population control.”

Littlejohn points out that on January 14, 2013 Wang Xia, Chairman of the National Population and Family planning Commission, stated, “We must unwaveringly adhere to the One Child Policy as a national policy to stabilize the low birth rate as the primary task.” Littlejohn concludes, “The Chinese Communist Party has no intention of ending coercive family planning any time soon. But the voices of the Chinese people are getting stronger and stronger in protest against this violent totalitarianism.”

Infant Crushed Under a Vehicle Containing Family Planning Officials – Translated Interview of the Child’s Father

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Reggie Littlejohn

This report was originally published in Xian Dai Jin Bao (Zhejiang Province Branch of Xinhua News Agency) 现代金报. What follows is a translation.

How Did This Tragedy Happen? A Reporter Went On-Location to Uncover the Truth.

At noon on February 4, a group of eleven leaders of the Qingxiang Community Communist Party Branch, (this community is located in Ma Yu Borough , Rui An County, WenZhou City in Southeast China’s Zhejiang Province), drove to the Dong Shan Tou Village of this Borough, charging the “Social Compensation Fee” from Lian-Di Chen and his wife, because they have had more children than the One- Child Policy allows. During that process, the two parties developed a conflict, the situation became chaotic, the 13 month old baby of Chen dropped on the ground and was run over by a car [containing Family Planning Officials]. After sending the baby to hospital, he died due to severe injuries. After that incident, the local police department intervened and is investigating.

According to the official report published on the day of the incident, the 13-month-old baby was held by his father Chen. How, then, did the baby drop to the ground, and how he get run over by the vehicle? A reporter went on site yesterday, trying to uncover the truth.

The Story

On the afternoon of February 5, the reporter came to Dong Shan Tou Village in Ma Yu borough. This village is far away from the city. On the roadside quite a few villagers had gathered, discussing the death of the baby on February 4.

Learning that a reporter was coming to investigate this incident, approximately twenty villagers came to talk:

– Villager Hu

“ My home is less than 20 meters from this incident. On that day, at noon, I was upstairs in my house. I heard it was very noisy downstairs, so I came down and see a large mini-van parked alongside the road.”

“Lian-Di Chen was beside the car door. His wife was already inside the vehicle. Chen’s two daughters were standing by his right hand side. The elder daughter was holding her 13-month-old brother. They were crying for their mother. The scene was pretty chaotic at that time. The car door was open and there were more than ten people inside the vehicle.”

“Before somebody cried out out that baby was crushed over, I heard four or five people inside the vehicle shouting: ‘Let’s go! Let’s go!’ Then the baby fell down.”

– Villager Chen (not the father)

“ When it happened, I was standing behind the vehicle, only three or four meters away from it.

“I saw Chen’s wife, Yu-Hong Li was already on the vehicle. There were several comrades from the Borough. Lian-Di Chen was holding the 13-month-old boy in his hands, standing by the car door, trying to hand the baby to his wife inside the vehicle. But the people inside the car pushed the baby out of the car. Thus the baby dropped onto the ground. Then the engine started and the baby was crushed to death by the rear wheel of the vehicle.”

– Lian-Di Chen, the father

On the afternoon of Feb 5, the reporter interviewed Lian-Di Chen in front of the Ma-Yu Borough Government Building. Lian-Di was wearing a light grey color jacket. The right part of the jacket under his arm was torn open and the cotton inside the jacket was exposed. He said this is the jacket that he was wearing on the day of this incident, and the clothes were torn open by the leaders of the Borough Chinese Communist Party Committee.

“When we get out of my house, they were still dragging my clothes. I said, ‘You are tearing my clothes.’ They said ‘we will reimburse you for the clothes, but you have to go with us today.’ I said, ‘I will go, but I have three children. My family wants to go together with me.’

“When we left the house, my wife was already on the vehicle. There were many neighbors around the vehicle. My two daughters were standing by the car door. My elder daughter was holding her baby brother, and the baby was crying for Mom. Then I went over to the vehicle, carrying the baby, preparing to go into the vehicle. At that moment there were seven or eight government officials inside the vehicle, and my wife was also inside. I wanted to get into the car and handed my son to my wife. The baby was crying a lot, and it was very chaotic. I don’t know who pushed me, causing my baby to drop to the ground. At that time the car started moving, and I wasn’t able to get my baby before the tire crushed him. The baby was killed.”

– The Government Officials

Later, the reporter went to the Borough Government of Ma-Yu. One official accepted the interview. He told the reporter, after the incident, the leaders of the Borough attached great importance to this incident.

The reporter asked to interview the officials who were at the scene on that day, and was told that they were not there. All of them went to local police department to write reports.

– The situation of the family

During the interview, villagers told the reporter that the Chen family is not very rich. Mr. Chen makes a living by driving a vehicle for the disabled, and their children are all wearing old clothes donated by the neighbors.

With the villagers as guides, the reporter came to Lian-Di Chen’s house. His front door was open, there were no decorations inside the house, there were some old clothes hanging on a clothesline for drying after laundry, and there were a baby carriage besides them.

Villager Chen said, Lian-Di Chen’s business is not in very good condition either. They could earn barely 1000 yuan per month ( appr. $160). Their life was very harsh.

Another female villager said Lian-Di’s wife is from outside the village, and is a housewife taking care of children. They had three children. The eldest daughter is in elementary school, younger daughter is only 4 years old. Their life is harsh. If she (the female villager) had any old clothes in her family, she would gave them to Chen’s kids.

(Reporter Guo-Lin Xie; Intern Zhan-Peng Jing)

View the link to the original February 6, 2013 Chinese news report: 现代金报

http://dzb.jinbaonet.com/html/2013-02/06/content_237733.htm?div=-1

Posted in China, China's One Child Policy, coerced abortion, Forced Abortion, human dignity, Human Rights, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, reproductive rights, Uncategorized | Comments Off