History

The Dui Hua Foundation was established in April 1999 and began operations in August of that year with a few staff members, a small home office, and an inspired mission—to improve human rights in China and the United States through a "dialogue" based on equality and mutual respect. Since that time, Dui Hua has grown tremendously on every level and earned an international reputation for its advocacy for political and religious prisoners in China and promotion of rule of law worldwide.

The work of Dui Hua has its roots in May of 1990, when businessman John Kamm made his first intervention on behalf of a Chinese prisoner and embarked into the world of human rights. Kamm, who would become Dui Hua's founder and executive director, used his trusted relationships to conduct a dialogue with the Chinese government. He also pioneered a tool in human rights diplomacy: lists of prisoner names submitted to Chinese officials as a way to inquire about individual cases. Prisoner lists have since been used by several countries and organizations that raise prisoner cases with China as part of their own human rights dialogues.

The Dui Hua Foundation has been resilient in negotiating many obstacles to discussing human rights issues, such as the SARS outbreak in China and changes in the geopolitical climate after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States. Dui Hua created new opportunities during those challenging times and has continued to implement and expand programs in line with its mission.

Dui Hua has amassed several impressive achievements in its brief history:

• Established productive working relations with officials in China, the European Union (EU), the United States, and other countries that conduct human rights exchanges or dialogues with China.

• Received the first-ever voluntary communication from the Chinese government on political prisoners and obtained information on hundreds of prisoners.

• Helped secure releases, sentence reductions, and better treatment for hundreds of Chinese prisoners.

• Created a detailed database with information on political and religious prisoners in China, uncovering information on thousands of cases, the majority of which were previously unknown.

• Granted "special consultative status" by the United Nations Economic and Social Council in 2005.

Read more about the early work of John Kamm and Dui Hua in the cover story "John Kamm's Third Way" from The New York Times Sunday Magazine >>

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