Dui Hua Opens Hong Kong Office
Following extensive planning, Dui Hua recently opened a branch office in Hong Kong to complement and expand on the advocacy work done from its office in San Francisco. The main goal of establishing the Hong Kong office is to increase the foundation’s research, programs, and development activities connected with China and Asia as a whole. The office is already proving its value in the area of research, since Dui Hua staff (read more below) is able to make frequent use of Hong Kong’s libraries—still the best repository of materials of interest to the foundation—while researching other collections related to China’s criminal law on a regular basis. The new office is helping Dui Hua build links with NGOs, journalists, and foreign diplomats in Hong Kong. With its key location, the office has great potential to play an important part in strengthening relations between the foundation and Chinese criminal justice officials, who increasingly pay visits to the Special Administrative Region.
Program and Research Officer Scott Berkland is based in the Hong Kong office, where he will be working with Dui Hua’s newest staff member, Flora Lee. Flora joined the foundation in July 2007 as a research and administrative assistant after earning a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University. She completed her undergraduate studies at Oberlin College, where she studied for a B.A. in Environmental Studies, focusing her senior thesis on the political and economic factors that have influenced Hong Kong’s water supply from mainland China. She also has served as an intern consultant for the Barretto Bay Conservancy, an NGO in New York. In Hong Kong, Flora assists with a range of administrative tasks and conducts research, especially for the foundation’s “mass incident” database. Dui Hua is pleased to welcome Flora to our staff during this exciting time of growth into Hong Kong and mainland China.
The Hong Kong office is funded by Dui Hua’s Special Program/Development Fund (SPDF), which supports new directions for human rights exchanges and organizational development.
New Dui Hua Web Site Launched
Dui Hua launched a new version of its web site on October 6, integrating the most substantial improvements since the site went live in 2001. The many updates are geared to enhance the online experience for site visitors, who we hope will appreciate the fresh approaches to content, navigation, and design.
The revamped site includes two new main features: Dialogue, an online version of Dui Hua’s Dialogue newsletter, and the Human Rights Journal, a forum for Dui Hua to comment on human rights and rule of law topics in China, with official Chinese-language materials as principal sources.
Dialogue, which is only available on our site, replicates the content of the printed version of Dialogue but also will link to previous writing and research by Dui Hua and some relevant outside sources. (Site visitors can read the online newsletter at www.duihua.org/dialogue.)
The Human Rights Journal provides summary, analysis, and translation of articles, news, and other materials found through our research and largely drawn from official Chinese-language publications. As with the Dui Hua News, added to the site in 2006, visitors can view the Human Rights Journal postings from our site’s home page and also subscribe in order to read new entries when they go live.
Besides these new informational features, site navigation has been improved through revised menu options that lead conveniently to both familiar and brand-new content, including a summary of Dui Hua’s history as well as video and audio coverage of our human rights work.