The Chinese government’s ongoing harassment of HIV/AIDS activists and intensified surveillance of AIDS support groups raise serious questions about its commitment to combating the illness, a United States based human rights watchdog has said.
Over the past three weeks, said the Human Rights Watch (HRW), police have forced the cancellation of three separate meetings on HIV/AIDS in the city of Guangzhou in Guangdong province and Kaifeng in Henan province.
Henan authorities have also ordered the closure of an HIV/AIDS support group’s offices and are harassing a leading HIV/AIDS activist there, it added.
These individuals and groups dedicated to addressing the enormous suffering wrought by China’s HIV/AIDS epidemic should not face police threats and harassment, said Joe Amon, Human Rights Watch’s HIV/AIDS director.
“China’s grassroots HIV/AIDS activists need and deserve praise and support, not intimidation tactics by state security forces,” he said.
The latest round of government pressure, HRW said, began late last month when Public Security Bureau officers in Guangdong province forced the cancellation of a conference of Chinese and foreign HIV/AIDS experts on bolstering the legal rights of people living with HIV/AIDS.
The cancellation of the meeting, organised by New York-based NGO Asia Catalyst, was justified by the Public Security Bureau on the grounds that it involved topics considered “too sensitive” for public discussion, HRW said.