by Meg Davis
Since March 2010, we’ve received a flurry of calls and
emails from reporters, donors and lawyers asking about the new regulations on NGOs
in China. Here’s our take on the regulations that have been
causing trans-Pacific headaches, and a few thoughts on what this means for
Chinese NGOs in the future.
By Josh Clarkson
On the eve of the Shanghai Expo, China has lifted its two-decade prohibition on
entry by foreigners living with HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases and
leprosy. China’s State Council announced the repeal on April
27th, saying that the government had concluded that the ban
has little or no effect in combating epidemics within China’s borders.
By Meg Davis and Josh Clarkson
Acrackdown on sex workers and related businesses in April and May has resulted in over a thousand arrests and the shuttering of hundreds of businesses throughout Beijing, according to news reports.
By Peter Ford
Sitting in a bare office behind an anonymous steel door, Yu Fangqiang
feels under siege.
His small nongovernmental organization, Yirenping, has enjoyed
remarkable success in helping HIV and hepatitis B sufferers fight
discrimination by Chinese employers, universities, and government
departments. For this challenge to the authorities, though, the group is
paying a high price.
Last year, police raided Yirenping’s Beijing office and confiscated
all its publicity material and legal aid brochures – hence the empty
bookshelves. In March, officials subjected their accounts to an
unusually prolonged investigation and warned them of more to come.
Now, new government regulations are starving Yirenping and other
controversial NGOs of funds.
“I am very worried about our future,”
says Mr. Yu, Yirenping’s chief coordinator. “I’m afraid we may have to
close.”
Read the full story at Christian Science Monitor.
By Yu Fangqiang
The other night, a little after midnight, I was about to turn off my computer and go to sleep when
I noticed, with surprise, an article in China Development Brief’s Community Times: “Droughts in the Southwest
Test Emergency Response: Where are the NGOs?”
China has recently been hit by a number of natural disasters, including the epic
drought in the southwest and an earthquake in Qinghai. After reading this
article, I had a few thoughts I had to share.
