- Dui Hua Foundation
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Dui Hua Foundation 
Type Non-profit Founded 1999 Location San Francisco, USA Key people John Kamm, Chairman Website http://www.duihua.org/ The Dui Hua Foundation (simplified Chinese: 中美对话基金会; traditional Chinese: 中美對話基金會; pinyin: zhōng měi duì huà jī jīn huì) is a San Francisco based non-profit organization dedicated to improving universal human rights by means of a well-informed dialogue (“dui hua” in Mandarin Chinese) between the United States and China. Its principal goals are to seek humanitarian treatment, transparency, and accountability of legal and penal systems in China as well as the United States. [1]
Contents
Background
The Dui Hua Foundation was founded in April 1999 by John Kamm, a businessman-turned-human rights activist who is also the organization’s executive director. In May 1990, Kamm intervened for the first time on behalf of a Chinese prisoner who was jailed for activities during the 1989 pro-democracy movement in China. Kamm is able to use close, trusted business relationships that began while he was working in China in the 1970’s to help create a mutually respectful human rights dialogue with many officials and organs in the Chinese government.
Human Rights Advocacy
The Dui Hua Foundation has received information from the Chinese government on hundreds of political and religious prisoners. Many of these prisoners have been released early or received better treatment in part from their presence on prisoner lists, Dui Hua’s main advocacy tool utilized in its work with the Chinese government. [2]
Among those helped by Dui Hua are both obscure prisoners and very prominent ones, such as the Uyghur businesswoman Rebiya Kadeer and Ngawang Sangdrol, one of the “Singing Nuns of Drapchi Prison.” Dui Hua often releases statements about prisoner cases it has worked on when a prisoner receives a sentence reduction or is freed from prison. [3]
Besides its relations with the Chinese government, Dui Hua has forged many partnerships with officials from the European Union (EU), the United States, and other countries and bodies that have human rights dialogues with China.
Research
Dui Hua conducts its own research and produces analysis about prisoner cases, criminal justice, and rule of law in China. The foundation maintains a database with detailed information on many thousands of Chinese detainees, and the database is widely considered the world’s most comprehensive source of data on individuals held in Chinese prisons. To accumulate data, Dui Hua often finds information on previously unknown cases printed in official Chinese government publications. [4]
UN Special Consultative Status
In 2005, the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) granted Dui Hua “special consultative status,” which allows representatives of Dui Hua to attend meetings of the ECOSOC and related bodies and submit statements and reports. Dui Hua is the only independent, overseas non-governmental organization focused on China’s human rights that has this status. With its consultative status, Dui Hua has participated in UN sessions and submitted several statements about human rights in China to the UN. [5] [6]
Publications
Dui Hua publishes Dialogue (中美对话), a quarterly newsletter that includes articles on the organization’s activities and human rights issues tied to Dui Hua’s mission, such as the human rights dialogue with China, rights concerns in both the United States and China, and information on prisoners and research.
Dui Hua also produces bilingual Occasional Publications that present and analyze some of the foundation’s research about political crime in China. Produced in four different series, the volumes are devoted to cases, verdicts, and statistics drawn from original Chinese government sources, and are distributed to organizations and individuals that work on issues of human rights in China. [7]
References
- ^ Dui Hua Foundation Mission Statement
- ^ Dui Hua Prisoner Lists
- ^ Dui Hua Press Statements & Prisoner Cases
- ^ Dui Hua Prisoner Database
- ^ Dui Hua Granted "special consultative status" with the United Nation
- ^ Dui Hua's Testimonies
- ^ Dui Hua's Publications
External links
Categories:- Human rights organizations
- Non-profit organizations
- Organizations based in China
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