By UN Watch ——Bio and Archives--March 18, 2014
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UN Watch Testimony to United Nations Human Rights Council, delivered by Ms. Ti-Anna Wang, 18 March 2014. TIME TO FREE MY FATHER, WANG BING ZHANG Thank you, Mr. President. My name is Ti-Anna Wang, and I’m the daughter of a Chinese political prisoner. I wish to use my family’s experience to draw this Council’s attention to the situation of human rights in China. My father, Dr. Wang Bing Zhang, is a medical doctor by training, who chose to devote his life to founding the Chinese overseas democracy movement. In 2002, he was abducted while traveling in Vietnam, and taken to China. He was tried, falsely convicted, and sentenced to life in prison. It’s now been 12 years, and my father is still behind bars — in solitary confinement. On one matter, I do wish to express my sincere gratitude to the Chinese government. My father was recently transferred from Beijiang Prison to Shaoguan prison, where his treatment and conditions have significantly improved. My family is thankful for this news. But still, my heart is broken from the last 12 years of my father’s imprisonment. INTERRUPTION BY CHINA ON POINT OF ORDER, supported by points of order by Cuba, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, objecting to UN Watch's statement. The U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Ireland, Hungary, Switzerland and the Czech Republic exercised points of order in defense of UN Watch. The Council president gave the floor back to UN Watch. More painful is that the authorities have punished me for the advocacy work that I have done on my father’s behalf. For the past five years, they have banned me from visiting him. This year, they stopped delivering my letters. Mr. President, I have come here today, to make two appeals. First, to the Chinese government. I know that you consider my father an enemy of the state. But you have spoken here of China’s commitment to the development of human rights. Therefore, I ask you to recognize my father as your partner in nurturing China’s progress; and to acknowledge that you both share a fundamental love of country. Second, I wish to make an appeal to this Council. China was recently elected to this body, and as such, it has pledged to uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights. Accordingly, I urge this Council to call on China to release my father, and all other prisoners of conscience. Thank you, Mr. President.
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UN Watch is a Geneva-based human rights organization founded in 1993 to monitor UN compliance with the principles of its Charter. It is accredited as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and as an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information (DPI).