Mr Michel Sidibé
Executive Director of UNAIDS
Under Secretary-General of the United Nations
UNAIDS Secretariat
20, Avenue Appia
CH-1211 Geneva 27
Switzerland

By Fax: +41.22.791.4187

29 September 2010

Dear Mr Sidibé

CONCERN ABOUT CHINESE AIDS ACTIVIST TIAN XI

On 21 September 2010 Chinese activist Tian Xi went on trial in Henan Province
charged with “suspicion of intentional destruction to property.” Tian Xi is
HIV-positive and was infected with HIV as a child as a result of a blood
transfusion at the time when thousands of people in Henan and other provinces
were infected with HIV through state-sponsored blood selling programs in the
1990s.

For the last five years Tian Xi has been campaigning for compensation for
himself and others, as well as for the Chinese government to admit its
culpability in the blood scandal and hold those directly responsible to
account. Tian Xi’s crusade has drawn the ire of the Chinese authorities and he
has been frequently harassed and detained. However, he has never been charged
before and we fear that his trial will be used to put him out of sight for a
number of years as has happened with other outspoken human rights activists
such as Hu Jia, currently still in prison after nearly three years.

The charge of “suspicion of intentional destruction to property” arose because
Tian Xi appears to have been lured back to Henan with an official offer of
trying to resolve his complaints. However when he got there he was refused
meetings and in a fit of anger broke several minor objects in a hospital office
where he had gone to meet the hospital director and collect his antiretroviral
medicines.

Tian Xi and other activists’ frustration arises from the fact that Henan
provincial courts refuse to accept any lawsuits relating to HIV, leaving
victims of the disaster with no recourse except petitioning. In Chinese
tradition, in a case of no other recourse, citizens may bring complaints
against local officials to higher-ranking government offices. However, only a
tiny percentage of these petitions ever receive a favourable response, and many
petitioners have been detained and, sometimes, tortured in what are known as
“black jails”.

Although the Chinese authorities say that he is being charged on ordinary
criminal grounds -“suspicion of intentional destruction of property”- it is
obvious from the circumstances surrounding this case, Tian Xi’s communications
with various organisations, and the documents he obtained from township
officials ordering his detention, that he was arrested because of his ongoing
and persistent HIV/AIDS petitioning, not because of the hospital incident,
which is trivial one, particularly compared to the injustices he has endured.

In an unprecedented action, activists from across China attended Tian Xi’s
trial to express solidarity with him. However, at the end of the day’s
proceedings, the judge did not deliver a verdict, but Tian Xi was escorted back
to prison where he has has been since August. It is indisputable that whatever
Tian Xi did, it does not warrant over a month in prison.

UNAIDS recognises the importance of human rights in the struggle against HIV.
Your mission states, “UNAIDS fulfills its mission by … speaking out in
solidarity with the people most affected by HIV in defense of human dignity,
human rights and gender equality.”

In the past UNAIDS has spoken out in defence of human rights. We recall how on
14 July 2005 UNAIDS issued a statement condemning police violence against TAC
members demonstrating for treatment in Queenstown, South Africa.

In China there is little recognition of human rights. AIDS activists operate in
a very difficult and oppressive environment. International pressure is
essential for changing this and bringing a more humane and effective response
to China’s HIV epidemic. It is therefore necessary for UNAIDS to speak out. We
ask you to fulfil the UNAIDS vision and to condemn the continued imprisonment
of Tian Xi.

Your sincerely

Nathan Geffen
Treasurer
TREATMENT ACTION CAMPAIGN