China: Free Detained AIDS Activist

(New York, August 18, 2008) -- The Chinese government should immediately release prominent AIDS advocate Duan Jun (段军), Asia Catalyst said today. Duan Jun was detained while traveling to Hong Kong to resume a short-term internship with a leading AIDS organization. 

On August 16, Duan Jun left Hong Kong, where he was halfway through a summer fellowship at AIDS Concern, and crossed the border to Shenzhen to renew his travel permit. He planned to return to the Hong Kong office by 1 pm on August 18. When he did not arrive, Hong Kong colleagues called his cell phone. Duan Jun said that he had been stopped at customs for several hours. In a later phone call he said that he was being held at another location and could not say more.

“The Beijing Olympics should be a time for celebration of world unity and athletic achievement, not a time for detention,” said Sara Davis, executive director of Asia Catalyst. “We call for the immediate release of Duan Jun.”

Duan Jun is one of eight Chinese AIDS advocates to whom Asia Catalyst has awarded summer fellowships at AIDS organizations overseas. The purpose of the fellowships is to help nonprofit leaders avoid the risk of detention during the Olympics, while building their management skills at larger and more established organizations.

Henan authorities refused to release the passports of two Asia Catalyst fellowship recipients, Li Xige and Zhu Longwei, saying that they were not allowed to leave the country during the Olympics.

Duan Jun is also from Henan. According to reliable reports, 19 people with AIDS from Henan were detained over the weekend while traveling to Beijing to protest.

Four other AIDS advocates on Asia Catalyst fellowships have safely arrived at AIDS organizations in the U.S., Hong Kong and Malaysia. All the fellowship recipients planned to return to Beijing at the end of August.

“None of the Asia Catalyst fellows planned to speak to the media or protest while overseas,” Davis said. “As always, Chinese authorities generate more bad press when they detain peaceful AIDS advocates than when they simply allow them to get on with their work.”

Duan Jun is the 35-year-old founder of AIDS Care Home (关艾之家), an organization in Henan province providing support to children affected by AIDS. He has been prominent as a national advocate of AIDS treatment access, and as a representative to the Country Coordinating Mechanism of the Global Fund to Combat AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.