Dui Hua Weathers Storms To Conduct Recent Advocacy Missions
In late February, Executive Director John Kamm made an advocacy mission to the East Coast, beginning his trip as a blizzard paralyzed the US Northeast. First in New York, Kamm met with Minister Counselor La Yifan, envoy of the PRC to the UN Security Council. Kamm then headed to Washington, DC, where he met with staff of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Congressional-Executive Commission on China, National Security Council, US State Department, and Chinese Embassy.
At the end of his trip, Kamm returned to New York, where he met with the Swiss Mission to the United Nations. This was followed by a meeting with Ambassador Li Baodong, permanent representative of China to the United Nations who had recently arrived in New York following his service as permanent representative of China to the United Nations in Geneva.
Kamm was to embark on a trip to Europe and Asia in mid-April but, like many others, had to change plans due to the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland. Instead, Kamm traveled directly to Hong Kong in late April. From there, he was set to go to Beijing to meet with officials from Chinese government ministries and join in activities of the US Juvenile Justice Delegation to China, a study and exchange program organized by Dui Hua and hosted by China’s Supreme People’s Court.
Foundation Holds Event for 2010 Juvenile Justice Delegation to China
On April 6, Dui Hua hosted a program to introduce its 2010 Juvenile Justice Delegation, which will visit China in May, and share the foundation’s work on juvenile justice. The event, Dui Hua’s largest public program to date, brought together delegation members, figures from the San Francisco judiciary, professionals working in juvenile and criminal justice, representatives of the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco, and Dui Hua supporters and friends. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Lillian Sing, the delegation leader, led off the program by pointing to the value of juvenile justice exchange and introduced other delegates, Executive Director John Kamm, Dui Hua board members, and the Chinese Consulate representatives. In his remarks, Deputy Consul General Lu Wenxiang complimented Kamm and Dui Hua for promoting dialogue and good relations between the United States and China.
The 2010 delegation, supported in part by the Hong Kong-based Fu Tak Iam Foundation, will visit Beijing and Qingdao at the invitation of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC). It is made up of Bay Area judicial and legal professionals and the juvenile justice program director from the MacArthur Foundation, which supported Dui Hua’s hosting of the SPC delegation that studied the US juvenile justice system in 2008. Dui Hua’s Senior Research Manager Joshua Rosenzweig will accompany the delegation. Learn more about Dui Hua’s work on juvenile justice.
Dui Hua Makes Submission for First Universal Periodic Review of United States
In April, Dui Hua made a submission on the US criminal justice and civil detention systems for the first Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United States, to occur in November 2010. Using its UN Special Consultative Status, Dui Hua focused its submission on parole policy, immigration detention in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities (see more on pages 4-5), and capital punishment.
Established in 2006 by the UN General Assembly, UPR allows for discussion of each member State’s human rights record every four years. Through UPR, countries and other participants discuss accomplishments and concerns related to fulfilling the international human rights commitments of countries under review.