Monthly Archives: October 2011

Officials deceive woman into having sterilization operation

Posted on by

By  WRIC                              Oct, 19 2011

 

Ms. Luo was born in 1983 in Guangxi province. She was married and moved to her husband’s village within Anqing City, Anhui province in 2001. She gave birth to a boy in 2002 and a girl in 2006.

 

The family was poor. Ms. Luo’s husband was unemployed. The burden fell entirely on her shoulders. Ms. Luo was a migrant worker for long periods of time. At midnight, January 30, 2007, while she was home for the Chinese New Year holiday, Ms. Luo was taken by officials including the village mayor, Women’s League commissioner and Birth Planning officials into a vehicle. The officials and agents brought her to the county seat for a sterilization operation. The tubal ligation procedure was hurriedly done under the name of another woman of the village. The officials deceived Ms. Luo that if the operation was done in other people’s name she would not have to pay the expenses. As a result, Ms. Luo didn’t even receive her own certificate of sterilization. In the same night, there was another woman undergoing sterilization in the clinic, also as a substitute.

 

A woman in Ms. Luo’s village, Fang, had two daughters at the time. In order to have a son Fang conspired with the village mayor to avoid the required sterilization. The mayor contacted Ms. Luo’s mother in law to propose using Ms. Luo as a substitute to meet the quota. If the family agreed, Fang was willing to foot the 2000 yuan medical bill as an incentive. In truth, tubal ligations as ordered by the Birth Planning Policy were paid for by the government. The suggestion of the mayor was a scam. The village authorities collected these fees solely for their own benefits. The mayor received money from Fang’s family for arranging the substitution, the precise amount of which was not disclosed by the parties.

 

Fang finally had a son in 2010. She had a sterilization operation. But it was not known whether the sterilization certificate carried Ms. Luo’s name.

 

In the five years since the hurried midnight tubal ligation, Ms. Luo developed serious side effects. She had been in constant pain in the operated area. Her mother in law tried to visit the mayor many times. But the mayor claimed that hospital mistakes were not the jurisdiction of the village government. Because Ms. Luo did not receive the requisite sterilization certificate, she could not receive any welfare mandated by the Birth Planning Policy. She could not even receive a checkup on post-operation side effects.

 

Ms. Luo’s husband was a member of an ethnic minority.( WRIC)

 

Ms. Luo’s husband was a member of an ethnic minority (Zhuang), which by law enjoyed more lenient Birth Planning Policy. However Ms. Luo could not receive any such benefits but unfair treatment. She had suffered years of pain from post tubal ligation complications. Worse, she could not prove the complications were results of the operation as the certificate was in another person’s name.

 

I interviewed Ms. Luo, her husband and mother-in-law. The family was extremely poor. The only electronics were a fan and an old television.

Hopefully it will be possible to provide her an OBGYN checkup and negotiate with the village Population Control Committee for the expenses of the medical treatment and a certificate of sterilization. If the village government refuses, then it would be necessary to find attorneys and enter the legal process.

Disabled Activists Visit Chen Guangchen; Blocked by Government

Posted on by

Source: http://www.flickr.com/   Pulsihed Time: 2011-10-14

Our banner: Happy International Day for the Blind Chen Guangchen!
WRIC volunteers visiting Chen Guangchen and family in his village. The banner says Return Freedom to Chen Guangchen and His Family
On October 14, 2011, five disability activists of Women’s Rights in China organized a visit to the blind activist and friend Chen Guangcheng in Dongshigu Village, Shuanghou Town, Jinnan County, Shandong Province. We wished to show our appreciation to the distinguished activist on the eve of the International Day for the Blind.
After we drove into Shuanghou Town to ask directions for Dongshigu Village, all passersby avoided us. Finally an elder man who was preparing to go into the fields asked us if we were looking for the blind man’s village. We said yes. He pointed us to a road under an aqueduct. There were several new buildings along the road. Several strong men stood guard at the entrance of the village.
The five activists bought some food and beverages across the road. Then the five disabled activists approached the village. Seven or eight men stood in front of the village. When they saw the activists approach, the men shouted and summoned many more men. They first took our gifts by force. The man in charge asked what we were doing there. We said that the next day would be the International Day for the Blind. We thought it proper to visit a blind friend. The headman refused to let us enter and asked where we came from. We told them that we were from distant places. Why couldn’t we enter the village? He said that not allowed meant not allowed. We asked if they were the police. He answered that they were villagers. We warned them sternly that villagers had no authority to bar us from seeing a friend.
At this time the other men who were watching started pushing us physically. Ms. Chen, who relied on her cane warned them loudly, “I can’t even stand. If you push me down, you will not hear the end of this!” As they saw we were all a group of disabled people, they stopped.
We tried to reason with them some more. “Chen Guangchen is not a criminal. You are detaining a citizen, a disabled citizen at that, indefinitely. It is illegal detention. You are also limiting the freedom of his whole family. His children can’t even go to school. So many of you with full use of your bodies against one disabled person, where is your conscience? Why are you doing this? If you don’t allow us to see him, we would petition the head of the National Disability Association, Zhang Haidi.”
One of the men sneered, “Who is Zhang Haidi? Why should we care?” Pangmei, in her wheelchair answered, “You apparently care less than Hu Jingtao.” Without saying anything more they pushed us out again. The villagers at the same time made calls that brought many cars and motorcycles, including a police patrol car, to the village.
It looked like entrance to the village was impossible. It was also growing dark. To prevent any more disadvantage, we decided to retreat first. We were not fleet of foot, so the rented van had to drive close to us. Suddenly two cars and a van cornered our vehicle and sandwiched us in the middle. They closely surrounded us as we drove out. When we stopped, they stopped, forcing us to drive at their command. From six in the afternoon to nine thirty, they stuck to us all the way from the village to the Linzi City highway entrance.
At the highway entrance, we were told that all highway exists and entrances were closed in Linzi. The weather was normal. The only reason was to prevent any more visits to Chen Guangcheng. We did not dare to stay in the city and had to follow a side road, with no rest till sun rise.
We do not think the behavior of the villagers was spontaneous but the manipulation of the police.
During the confrontation at the village entrance, a police cruiser drove right by us. Secondly, one of the black Mazda car that drove with us was staffed by plainclothes police. They constantly recorded us with camera and video. The other two cars also had their license plates covered. Thirdly, after our return to Hefei, the local national security bureau received news of our visit. Villagers alone could not have such cooperation with agents in another province.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28252685@N04/6268528042/in/photostream/

Couple Acquired Foreign Residency, Still Fined for Above Quota Birth

Posted on by

Yangtze Evening News

In order to have another child without incurring Population Control fines, a couple, Mr. Yi and Ms. Gong of Changzhou acquired residency of a foreign country and give birth to their “illegal” above quota child in Hong Kong. When they returned to Mainland China, the family was still fined a quarter million renminbi in “social compensation fines”.

In April, 2007, the Yi family had a son. The newborn gave limitless joy to the couple. But after a time the couple wanted another child. Jiangsu Pronvice policies prohibited them from having a second child. The desire for one more persisted, the couple thought of the idea to give birth in Hong Kong. To be safe, in April and November of 2008, the husband and wife bought residency permits of the Niger Republic. Ms. Gong gave birth to a boy on March 25, 2009 in Hong Kong. When they returned to the mainland with their children, the couple still received notice of fines from the Population Control Bureau.

The receipt of the notice didn’t panic the Yi’s. They were prepared and requested a revision to the administrative decision from the district government. The revision process upheld the fine. The couple then sued in court to dismiss the fines. They thought they had already acquired residency permits in a foreign country and the certificate issued by the Changzhou City Overseas Chinese Affairs Office confirming their status as returning overseas Chinese. Plus, the second child was born in Hong Kong and had permanent resident status there. His “social welfare” was the obligation of the Hong Kong government and not contrary to the Chinese Population Control Law.

The court dismissed the Yi family’s claim as returning overseas Chinese. By Chinese law, “Overseas Chinese” must have been permanent residents of a foreign country for a minimum of 18 months in two years. Although the couple had acquired permanent residency of Niger, they still lived in Mainland China, and therefore not conforming to the national government’s definition of overseas Chinese.

In 2007, the National Population Commission ordered that Chinese citizens, who had acquired residency rights in a foreign country without living in that country, would be treated as Mainland residents. The decision was emphasized in 2010. If both husband and wife were Mainland residents, the children born abroad who had been living in China for over 18 months would count towards the Birth Planning quota, which means that if the parents’ residency was registered in a mainland locale, “illegal” births would entail a fine regardless of where the birth happened. The Yi family was still under the control of Jiangsu Province’s Birth Control Policy.

The Yi couple paid 250,000 yuan in “social compensation” fines.