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	Practising law a risky endeavour in China by Toronto Star / HRW   Apr 29, 2008   Human rights lawyers often face intimidation, beatings, says Human Rights Watch, by Bill Schiller. (Toronto Star)   BEIJING–One fine fall afternoon last year, Li Heping was making his way towards a newspaper kiosk not far from his office when a man approached, grabbed him by the arm and said sternly, "Come with me." "I said, `I don''t even know who you are''," Li recalls. "But he said, `If your name is Li Heping, you''d better come with me.''"   In a matter of seconds, Li had a cloth sack pulled over his head, he was wrestled into a car and driven to the outskirts of town where he was brought down into a basement and beaten.   Li is a lawyer – a partner in the respected Beijing Globe Law Firm. He''s among a select group of lawyers in China who dare to take on politically sensitive cases.   "They were slapping me about the head, pulling me by the hair and striking me with electrical batons. "They were yelling, `Sell your house, sell your car and get the hell out of Beijing!''"   Towards midnight, he was bundled back into the car and dumped in a forested area, from which he eventually made his way home.   Li is one of 49 human rights lawyers interviewed for a report released today by Human Rights Watch entitled, "Walking on Thin Ice: Control, Intimidation and Harassment of Lawyers in China."   The 146-page report, issued as the Beijing Olympics loom, details how lawyers like Li and others who take on cases the government regards as politically sensitive, face everything from intimidation and threats, to disbarment and even physical assaults.   "These guys were professionals," the 38-year-old Li said of his abductors during an interview in his downtown office. "I don''t think they wanted to hurt me as much as intimidate me. They just wanted to teach me a lesson."   Li walked away from the beating with bruises. But the "lesson" didn''t take: He''s still taking on human rights files.   Senior government officials routinely proclaim China to be a country of "the rule of law." Even President Hu Jintao, at the 17th Communist Party Congress last year, stressed "the rule of law constitutes the essential requirement of socialist democracy."   But many observers see China as a country of "the rule by law" – the law being an instrument that remains largely in the hands of the government. As a consequence, it remains risky for lawyers to take on certain cases.   Earlier this month, for example, when 21 well-known human rights lawyers publicly offered their services to Tibetan protesters who needed legal counsel in the aftermath of riots and arrests there, the lawyers were warned by the ministry of justice "not to get involved."   The lawyers were questioned, put under surveillance and their phones were tapped, according to reports. Officially, the ministry said there were enough lawyers in the region to look after those needing counsel.   Still, over the last 20 years the Chinese government has laid serious groundwork to help China arrive at "rule of law" status. It has enacted thousands of new laws and regulations, founded hundreds of new law schools to graduate competent lawyers and is now setting up a new and modern court system.   But Human Rights Watch points out that even as this process proceeds, lawyers who take up human rights cases can still face surveillance, harassment, threats, intimidation, detention, prosecution and even physical violence. Some lawyers have had their licences arbitrarily suspended. Others have been disbarred.   "Every one of the 49 lawyers we interviewed had spent some time in detention," said Human Rights Watch''s China Researcher, Nicholas Bequelin.   These lawyers who form what is loosely called the weiquan, or "rights protection" movement, often represent the poor and indigent: farmers who have had their land taken away by local officials, residents who have been forcibly evicted and various victims of corrupt local leaders.   The key problem, from the lawyers'' perspective, is that the entire legal system struggles to operate within a one-party state demanding unquestioned loyalty.   Last October, for example, the vice-minister of justice in charge of lawyers told a gathering of the All-China National Lawyers Association that lawyers "must support the leadership of the (Communist) Party at all times."   Given that kind of clarity, it''s small wonder many Chinese lawyers steer clear of taking on human rights cases that could bring them into conflict with the party.   "In the West, you have divisions in government: between the executive branch, the legislative branch and the judiciary," says Li. "But in our country, all three are controlled by the party. As a result, every case that involves the common good always comes up against the one single power, that is, the Communist Party of China."   The Human Rights Watch report calls on the government to release all lawyers currently under arrest or being detained – their exact number is unknown; to cease all attacks on lawyers; and to lift restrictions on press coverage of politically sensitive cases.   "Abuses of lawyers compound human rights violations," says Sophie Richardson, Human Rights Watch''s Asia advocacy director. "Without due process and genuine defence rights, law remains little more than an instrument of state repression."   For Li, the way forward might require a great leap. "The best way, I think, is to separate the party from the government to allow true independence of the judiciary. Without the independence of the judiciary, the practice of law is of little value," he says. Visit the related web page
	Unregulated activities by private military companies is major cause of concern by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights   The United Nations Working Group on the use of mercenaries said it is concerned that many private military and security companies at the national, regional and international levels currently operate without effective oversight or accountability.   The Working Group, which presented today its report at the seventh session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, notes that a growing number of such companies in conflict-ridden areas, such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Colombia, are recruiting former military and policemen from developing countries as “security guards.” However, once they engage in low intensity armed conflict or post-conflict situations, they become in fact “militarily armed private soldiers.”   "Militarily armed private soldiers" are essentially a new way of describing mercenaries, who are frequently responsible for human rights abuses, the Working Group points out.   War-torn States often lack the capacity to effectively control and regulate these private companies. In some cases, national legislation grants them immunity. The Working Group warns that since the private guards are only accountable to their employing companies, immunity can turn easily into impunity. A significant responsibility falls on the States from where these transnational companies export their military and security services, the Working Group adds.   States, as holders of the monopoly of the legitimate use of force, are the main actors responsible for the protection and promotion of human rights, the Working Group says in its report. The Group calls for a wider ratification of the International Convention against the recruitment, use, financing and training of mercenaries.   In 2007, the Working Group conducted field missions to a number of countries including Peru, Fiji and Chile; made recommendations to bring national legislation in line with the International Convention, and convened a regional consultation on “the effects of the activities of private military and security companies on the enjoyment of human rights” in Panama. The Working Group plans to hold additional regional consultations in order to facilitate a critical understanding of the need for additional regulation and control on the international level.   The Working Group on the use of mercenaries was established in 2005 by the Commission on Human Rights. Its mandate includes monitoring the impact of the activities of private military and security companies on the enjoyment of human rights.   The Working Group is composed of five independent experts serving in their personal capacities, and headed by its Chairperson-Rapporteur, José Luis Gómez del Prado (Spain). The other Working Group experts are: Najat al-Hajjaji (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya), Amada Benavides de Pérez (Colombia), Alexander Nikitin and Shaista Shameem (Fiji).   For more information on the mandate and activities of the Working Group, please consult the website of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights via the link below. Visit the related web page
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