DHARAMSHALA, MARCH 19: Tibetan exiles have expressed sadness over the death of a Chinese human rights activist Cao Shunli, 52, who died of organ failure in a Beijing hospital last week. Condemning the treatment meted out to Cao by Chinese prison authorities, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said Cao death is “a huge blow” to the human rights movement in China.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said the Chinese authorities must be held accountable for Cao’s death which comes just five days ahead of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s scheduled assessment of China’s second human rights review under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism, to which Cao submitted a civil society report detailing the plight of petitioners in China. Cao was arrested on September 14, 2013, as she was about to board a flight to Switzerland to participate in a human rights training on UN mechanisms in Geneva.
“Cao Shunli’s death illustrates that arbitrary detention, torture, and death in detention, are prevalent throughout the People’s Republic of China and not limited to Tibet and ethnic and religious minorities,” said Ms. Tsering Tsomo, the executive director of Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).
Cao Shunli’s arrest, torture, and death follows the same pattern as the death of Tibetans during detention, Tsomo said. “It is also a reminder that the violations of universal human rights deserve the attention and condemnation of the international community. Those responsible for human rights abuses should be held responsible.”
On 20 February 2014, Cao Shunli was transferred to a military hospital in “extremely critical condition”, added Tsomo. She received a medical parole on 27 February 2014 and died two weeks days later.
Cao’s brother said his sister was denied medical treatment for several months in detention. “[It’s] so merciless, so sad,” Cao’s brother Cao Yunli told RFA’s Mandarin Service. “I’ve never seen someone who looks the way she does now. I am even scared to look at her. I couldn’t even treat a dog like that. I don’t understand why people are so merciless. Why didn’t they just shoot her dead?”
Matteo Mecacci, President of the International Campaign for Tibet, said that Cao’s death is “a vivid and shocking reminder of the lengths the Beijing leadership is taking to silence moderate and reasonable citizens who seek to protect their rights.” Matteo said her death must not be forgotten. “We support the efforts by brave Chinese rights defenders including her lawyer in calling for an immediate investigation into her death. Every delegation to the UN Human Rights Council should also raise Cao Shunli’s death during the rights review process in Geneva this week.”
Meanwhile, Chinese rights activists have launched a signature campaign demanding an investigation into her death and condemning her persecution.
Cao Shunli was a citizen legal activist who tried to hold the Chinese government to its own standards by using the country’s laws and China’s human rights progress to the international community.
