Daughter of Jailed Chinese Democracy Leader to Address UN

Ahead of UN Report on China's Rights Record, Daughter of Jailed Chinese Democracy Leader to Address UN Human Rights Council

GENEVA, March 17, 2014 - The daughter of jailed Chinese democracy leader Dr. Wang Bingzhang will address the United Nations Human Rights Council tomorrow, a day before the 47-nation body adopts a major report on China's human rights record.

In the report slated for adoption on Wednesday, which summarizes a recent Universal Periodic Review session, China insists that it protects human rights. "China has taken concrete actions in protecting people’s freedom of speech," Beijing says, and "people can express views freely."

However, several of China's claims will be challenged by 24-year-old Ti-Anna Wang, who was born and raised in Montreal, Canada, when she takes the floor tomorrow at the UN plenary in Geneva.

Wang dedicated the past 12 years of her life to trying to free her father, the founder of China's overseas democracy movement, who has been serving a life sentence in China since 2002.

Ms. Wang's personal story inspired the heroine in the recent novel Nine Days, written by Washington Post editor Fred Hiatt.

Ms. Wang was invited to testify before the UNHRC tomorrow by the Geneva-based non-governmental human rights group UN Watch, which previously hosted her at its 2011 Geneva Summit for Human Rights.

NAMED AFTER TIANANMEN SQUARE

Born in 1989, Wang has devoted her life to working toward human rights, democracy, and freedom of speech. She was named to commemorate the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing, led by students seeking democracy and human rights. The 25th anniversary of the massacre will be marked this June.

ENDS

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