On 25 June 2025, Ms. Shengchun Luo, the wife of detained human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi, delivered an oral statement to the 59th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, during the interactive dialogue with Margaret Satterthwaite, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers. This statement is co-sponsored by five NGOs with consultative status: Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada (LRWC), the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, Lawyers for Lawyers, the Law Society of England and Wales, and Amnesty International.

The Rights Practice, which does not have consultative status with UN ECOSOC, endorsed the statement, along with 15 other NGOs.  

This July marks ten years since the “709 Crackdown.” On 9 July 2015, police targeted over 300 lawyers and legal advocates in the biggest attack on lawyers in China’s modern history. Human rights lawyers embody the rule of law in China, upholding rights enshrined in China’s Constitution and treaties China ratified.

Since then, China’s government has continued to disbar lawyers, shut down law firms, and impose heavy prison sentences on lawyers. Their families face harassment leading to loss of housing and jobs, restrictions on children’s education, surveillance, and travel bans. Lawyer Gao Zhisheng has been forcibly disappeared since August 2017. Ms. Shengchun Luo's husband, Ding Jiaxi, received a 12-year prison sentence in 2023 for attending a private gathering with other lawyers.

Persecution has also increased against other human rights advocates, including Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Hong Kongers. Beyond China’s border, authorities hunt down dissent through transnational repression.

The statement posed the question: What steps does the Special Rapporteur recommend for the international community to hold China accountable for its widespread abuses against lawyers and human rights defenders?

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