Dui Hua Welcomes New Program & Research Officer

The Dui Hua Foundation is pleased to welcome Scott Berkland, who joined Dui Hua as Program and Research Officer in June. Scott joins Dui Hua after earning a master's degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard University, during which time he also worked for Dui Hua as a freelance researcher. After graduating from the University of Texas in 1999, Scott worked and studied for extended periods in Japan, China, Taiwan, and Korea, including a two-year posting as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sichuan Province. In addition to continuing to help Dui Hua uncover new information about political and religious cases in China, Scott will be responsible for overseeing some of the foundation’s special projects and development activities.

Death Penalty Reform Brings Fewer Executions in China

In the Winter 2007 issue of Dialogue, Dui Hua predicted that restoring the authority of the Supreme People's Court to review all death sentences in China would result in a drop in the total number of executions in that country.

Speaking to the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong on June 7, Dui Hua Executive Director John Kamm argued that continuing to reduce the high number of executions in China is necessary if Beijing wants to improve its human rights image in advance of the 2008 Olympics. In a subsequent interview with the New York Times (published on June 9), Kamm observed that, with an estimated 7,500 executions in 2006, annual execution totals had dropped by approximately 40 percent in the six years since the Olympics were awarded to Beijing

Reports from China suggest that the death penalty reforms have, so far, resulted in declining executions across the country. For example, Beijing's two intermediate-level courts have issued 10 percent fewer death sentences in the first five months of 2007, compared to the same period in 2006. In part, this is because new regulations, by shifting the burden to retry problematic cases back to provincial courts, have caused lower courts to be more cautious about ordering executions in borderline or questionable cases.

See also:

• China Urged to Cut Back Executions Before Olympics (AFP, June 9, 2007)
• An Olympic Reprieve for China's Convicts (Time, June 11, 2007)

Kamm Discusses Beijing Olympics and Human Rights in Hong Kong Speech

John Kamm gave a speech entitled "China and the Olympics: Implications for Human Rights and US-China Relations" (requires Microsoft PowerPoint, or you can download a PowerPoint Viewer) during a June 7 luncheon sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.

Click on the following links to view media coverage of the speech. (Links will be updated as new items appear.)

Coverage in English:

• China must tackle Darfur for successful Olympics, says activist (AFP, June 7, 2007)
• Rights activist says China will support Sudan sanctions, cut executions before Olympics (AP via International Herald Tribune, June 7, 2007)
• Rights image haunts China before Games: campaigner (Reuters, June 7, 2007)
• An Olympic Reprieve for China's Convicts (Time, June 11, 2007)
• US Rights Campaigner Says China's Poor Image Could Jeopardize 2008 Olympics (VOA, June 7, 2007)

Coverage in Chinese:

• 中国为奥运成功致力改善国际形像 (美国之音, 2007.6.7)