Advocacy and Outreach
 |
 |
 Top: Kamm outside the United Nations office in Geneva. Center (from right): Director Linda K. Ziglar, Senior Manager Irene Kamm, Director Magdalen Yum, and Sally Furman at Friends of Dui Hua, San Francisco. Bottom: Jude Shao (right) and Executive Director Kamm at Friends of Dui Hua. |
Executive Director John Kamm traveled to Europe on October 8. Before attending China’s second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva on October 22, he met with representatives from government and civil society groups in Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Oslo. In Geneva, Kamm met with Christophe Peschoux, chief of the UPR Section of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR); Hanny Megally, chief of the Asia, Pacific, Middle East and North Africa Branch of the OHCHR; Rory Mungoven, head of Asia-Pacific Section of the OHCHR; and representatives of the secretariats of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, Working Group on the Issue of Discrimination against Women in Law and in Practice, and Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. On the last leg of the trip, Kamm made a short stop in Berne.
Programs & Publications Associate Rene Kamm traveled to New York to attend a panel entitled “Human Rights of Women in Prison: A Toolbox to Implement the UN Bangkok Rules” on October 16. The keynote address was given by Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol, the permanent representative of Thailand to the UN Office in Vienna. Andrea Huber, policy director at Penal Reform International (PRI) was among the presenters. PRI is partnering with Dui Hua to host an international symposium on women in prison in Hong Kong on February 24‒27, 2014. The symposium aims to increase transparency of the conditions in women’s correctional facilities worldwide and promote the Bangkok Rules (known in full as the UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders) among institutional actors and decision-makers.
The upcoming symposium was one focus of the Friends of Dui Hua, San Francisco reception on September 12. During the event, Dui Hua staff and directors Michael T. McCune, Magdalen Yum, and Linda K. Ziglar welcomed 70 guests including American businessman Jude Shao. A month after the event, Dui Hua secured support from the Ford Foundation to cover a portion of the costs of the symposium. Fundraising efforts are still underway and we welcome your support!
 Dui Hua Development Manager Lillian Sie |
Staff Updates
Lillian Sie joined Dui Hua as development manager in October to coordinate fundraising, outreach, and development activities. She returns to Dui Hua after completing her MPH in Epidemiology/Biostatistics from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and completing research in Taiwan as a Fulbright Scholar. From 2008‒2010, Lillian helped implement Dui Hua’s juvenile justice exchangeprograms as administrative assistant and development associate.
Database Revamp
Dui Hua’s Political Prisoner Database grew to include nearly 28,000 records in October. About 5,000 people whose cases are recorded in the database are believed to remain in prison. Dui Hua is currently migrating and converting data to an upgraded platform that will improve the efficiency of data entry and analysis. Additional improvements relate to tracking prior arrests and the role of provincial leaders in the detention of political prisoners.