|
|
Rights to Greener Pastures
The pitfalls in defending environmental rights
reveal cracks in China’s legal and criminal justice systems—most
notably, the failures to respect rights to free expression and health
and uphold anti-pollution and anti-corruption laws. As in other rights
areas, safeguarding environmental rights has complex dimensions and
far-flung consequences. This may be especially true in China, where
ecological assault affects a huge population and landmass as well as
people and the environment worldwide. Two-thirds of the country is prone
to acid rain showers, and across the Pacific Ocean, as much as 25
percent of the air pollution in Los Angeles originates in China.
Effective environmental rights work cannot be done
without solid legal protections for rights defenders at all levels of
society—and not only those able to navigate the labyrinth of Chinese
laws or advocate with the consent of powerful officials. Facing so many
catastrophic natural crises, China’s leaders must support a rule of law
that protects the voices of environmental rights defenders in order to
achieve the ideal of a “harmonious society.” At this point, it’s the
most effective route China can take to defend an environment that has
already suffered rampant degradation. ■
Environmental Rights
Defenders in Deep Water
Advocating for
environmental rights in China can involve a range of legal hazards. Dui
Hua’s prisoner database includes 38 individuals from 2001 through 2007
who have been detained or arrested for activities linked to
“environmental protests” in China; this total is not likely to be
comprehensive. Twenty-one of these have served (or are serving) prison
sentences. Many of the activists arrested in 2007 are awaiting trial,
with a good possibility that some will begin sentences this year. Below
is a summary of the advocacy—and consequences—for two rights defenders
who have taken up environmental causes.
Sun Xiaodi, a mine manager in Diebu County, Gansu
Province, exposed illegal mining, disposal of untreated water that
caused serious illnesses, and the selling of equipment contaminated with
uranium. Sun continued his advocacy after the mine was to be shut down,
since uranium production and equipment sales still went on under the
control of mine leaders and local and provincial officials. Detained in
Beijing in April 2005, Sun was charged with a “state secrets” violation.
Public pressure helped get him released in December 2005, but he was
kept under surveillance well into 2006.
Wu Lihong, a one-time salesman at a factory in Yixing,
Jiangsu Province, fought the pollution of Lake Tai, which suffered
devastating losses to marine life while the local population felt myriad
effects of contamination. He gathered evidence of pollution to show
environmental agencies and was named an “Environmental Warrior” by the
National People’s Congress in 2005—despite the consistent resistance of
local officials. Wu’s advocacy helped lead to many factory closures, and
a cleanup of Lake Tai is finally underway. But Wu has been serving a
three-year sentence since August 2007 for what many believe to be
concocted fraud and extortion charges for a work-related issue from
2003—an opportunity introduced to him by a local environmental official
who had requested that Wu lighten up on his criticism of Yixing’s
pollution problems.
|
Print
this article