In the second half of 2021, Safeguard Defenders will release a number of major reports, manuals, and investigations. Below is a brief outline of some of what is to be expected, not necessarily in chronological order.
Five reports are currently in production.
The third and final part of the Access Denied report series, China’s Legal Blockade, explores how detention facilities are placing greater restrictions (outside of Covid-19 limitations) on lawyers’ access to their clients, on how clients are forced to renounce their legal counsel of choice and accept State-appointed lawyers, and other limitations imposed to break down a key due process ingredient: the right to legal counsel before trial.
Health and Hell takes a look at how China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS)-run system of custodial mental health facilities function, and how dissidents are targeted and placed indefinitely into the insulated legal environment this police-run system operates in.
A major research project on China’s use of non-extradition methods to expand its scope of control over Chinese nationals abroad will result in the report No Escape. The report outlines three methods employed by both Public- and State Security ministries to force the return of wanted Chinese nationals - from sending out agents abroad to threaten and harass the targets to return, to going after their family members still back in China, and (occasionally) the direct kidnapping of victims. It will analyse current data and information, present cases and interviews, and present an aggregate of statistics available to show the scope of these operations – far beyond what is publicly known today.
Another in-depth research project on China’s use of extraditions and seeking extradition cooperation will lead to a practical manual aimed at legal practitioners around the world on how to best counter Chinese extradition requests. The project engages in numerous recent or ongoing extradition battles, analysis of key past cases and cooperation with both lawyers and legal academics to produce the most extensive data on the issue to date, including brand new statistics.
China’s use of ‘forced travel’ is well known: those deemed politically sensitive are taken on ‘forced holidays’ escorted by police, and often cut off from communication with the outside world. A new report will satirize the practice by releasing a travel magazine, based on real victims’ testimonies, trips, locations, and so on.
In addition, a report on changes in China since Covid-19 will highlight new trends: some as a direct result of Covid-19 management, others occurring concurrently and often overlooked.
A number of short-term ad hoc investigations are also underway, to be released over the course of the next months in line with advocacy goals or urgent developments. Examples include:
Canada’s use of deportation of Chinese nationals to China in the form of ‘disguised extraditions’ is being analysed, with new data obtained from the Canadian Border Agency. This will expand upon a rarely talked about subject; how countries cooperate with China to deport people based on immigration law, as a way to avoid the much slower, difficult and costly extradition process, and delve deeper into the practice of 'disguised extraditions'.
The ongoing legitimatization of China’s National Supervision Commission (NSC) by countries such as Denmark and Australia - along with ‘the usual suspects’ - will be explored in another investigation, continuing SD’s work to highlight how the establishment of the NSC - now being given point in leading judicial cooperation internationally - represents a significant deterioration of China’s criminal judicial system and how western governments are, often due to sheer ignorance, assisting them.
Safeguard Defenders is also investigating the failure to act against the UN's handing over of names of attending Chinese dissidents to the Chinese government ahead of UN meetings and activities and in particular the persecution by UN staff of the whistleblower against this practice, Emma Reilly.
Finally, the comprehensive guide on how civil society can engage with Magnitsky Acts’ around the world will be released in a Tibetan edition.
In addition, several investigations are ongoing which cannot yet be revealed.
