Chen Wuquan
Chen Wuquan (陈武权) is a resident of Diaoluocun, a small village located in the north east of Donghai Island in southern China. Chen Wuquan initially worked as a police officer for seven years, but in 2005 he left the police force to become a lawyer. He developed an interest in human rights, receiving training on international human rights mechanisms, and representing cases of land appropriation and religious freedom. In 2012, Chen Wuquan agreed to act as legal defense for Chen Kegui, the nephew of and advocate for China’s intensely persecuted “barefoot lawyer” Chen Guangcheng. For his association with Chen Kegui’s case, and by association the highly sensitive case of Chen Guangcheng, Chen Wuquan was disbarred and his legal license rescinded.
Chinese human rights defenders work across a wide spectrum of issues, engaging with rights violators on numerous levels. Many of China’s most prominent and most stringently prosecuted defenders have worked to protect the health and well-being of victims of physically harmful government and corporate practice, including forced abortion, food health scandals, environmental pollution, and corrupt or negligent government action leading to preventable loss of life. Other Chinese HRDs work to protect the economic rights of Chinese citizens, advocating for victims of property appropriation, forced demolition, and violation of labour contracts. Still others take on cases of freedom of expression for China’s ethnic and religious minorities.
