Seminar | Fifth Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Day and International Symposium Marking the Sixth Anniversary of the "709 Crackdown"

Under China's authoritarian system, human rights lawyers have faced an increasingly severe environment for the rule of law and human rights year after year. The situation became especially grave with the 2015 "709 Crackdown," which targeted human rights lawyers and other rule-of-law advocates.

Human rights lawyers in China face unlawful arrest, enforced disappearance, prolonged detention, torture and coerced confessions, revocation of lawyers' licenses, and other forms of psychological and physical intimidation. Yet they remain on the front lines of defending human rights. As one of the organizers, the JRF hopes this event will help the international community, including Taiwan, understand the latest developments in China's legal and human-rights environment and express concern and support for Chinese human rights lawyers and human rights defenders.

The event brings together scholars and lawyers from around the world, as well as persecuted Chinese lawyers and their family members, to speak on "The Increasingly Difficult Professional Environment for China's Human Rights Lawyers." From Taiwan, we are honored to welcome Attorney Yu Po-Hsiang as one of the speakers.

The event will also present two China Human Rights Lawyer Awards, honoring two human rights lawyers who have been imprisoned for faithfully carrying out their professional duties and upholding justice.

Time

- July 9, 2021, 9:00-11:30 p.m. Taipei Time
- July 9, 2021, 9:00-11:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time

Livestream

Judicial Reform Foundation YouTube Channel (Link)

Agenda

Opening Remarks

Baroness Helena Kennedy QC
Director, International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)




Speakers

MEP Reinhard Bütikofer

Chair, European Parliament Delegation for Relations with the People's Republic of China

Member of the European Parliament; Chair, Delegation for Relations with the People's Republic of China

Representative Chris Smith
Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, U.S. Congress

Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, U.S. Congress



Former Representative Frank Wolf
Former Member of the U.S. Congress; long-time supporter of human rights in China

Wang Quanzhang, Wang Yu, and others

Human Rights Lawyers and Family Members from China

Jerome A. Cohen

Professor of Law, New York University School of Law

Terence Halliday

Research Professor, American Bar Foundation

Jacqueline R. Scott

Director General, Institute for the Rule of Law, International Association of Lawyers (UIA-IROL)

Director General, Institute for the Rule of Law, International Association of Lawyers



Magdalena Witkowska

Vice-Chair, Human Rights Committee, Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE)

Vice-Chair, Human Rights Committee, Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe



Attorney Yu Po-Hsiang

President of the 29th Taipei Bar Association

Miles Yu

Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute; former China adviser to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

China Human Rights Lawyer Awards / Acknowledgement of International Supporters

Presentation of the China Human Rights Lawyer Awards & Acknowledgement of International Supporters




Moderator

Yaxue Cao
Founder and Editor of China Change