Ye Haiyan
Over the past six weeks human rights defender Ms Ye Haiyan has been subjected to a prolonged campaign of harassment and intimidation which has forced her, her partner and her daughter to leave their home, first in Guangxi province, and subsequently Guangdong province.
Ye Haiyan is a defender of women’s rights who has highlighted the working conditions of sex workers, the sexual abuse of children and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.
On 6 July 2013 Ye Haiyan, her boyfriend, Ling Haobo and her 14 year-old daughter were forced to leave a home they had been renting in Zhongshan, Guangdong province by the Zhongshan authorities. The three were left on a roadside early that morning with their belongings packed into cardboard boxes.
Mr Ling reported on his microblog that local police had threatened him, saying “Zhongshan does not welcome you; Guangzhou does not welcome you either. I will break your legs if I ever see you again in Zhongshan”.
According to Yaxue Cao, a US-based writer and activist, Ye Haiyan attempted to stay in the apartment of her friend and fellow human rights defender Ms Ai Xiaoming in Guangzhou city that night but was prevented from doing so by a group of men who blocked her at the entrance to the apartment. Eventually Ye Haiyan’s daughter was permitted to stay in the apartment while Ye Haiyan and Ling Haobo were forced to look for accommodation elsewhere.
This incident is the latest in a series of steps taken to target Ye Haiyan since she initiated a protest in late May to highlight the sexual abuse of school children . During that month she travelled to Hainan province where she protested outside a school whose principal had taken six primary schoolgirls to a hotel room and, along with a local government official, reportedly abused them over a two-day period. The two were later arrested, though local authorities were accused of seeking to minimise the incident.
Ye Haiyan stood outside the school concerned with a placard saying, “Principal, get a room with me and leave the schoolchildren alone”. News of her protest spread rapidly online and inspired hundreds of other internet users to post pictures of themselves with similar placards.
Following her return to Guangxi province, on 30 May 2013 Ye Haiyan was assaulted in her home by a group of women. In an effort to defend herself and her daughter, she used a knife to fight off her attackers, reportedly injuring three of them. Ye Haiyan was then arrested and placed in 13 days’ administrative detention. Front Line Defenders sent an urgent appeal and an update on the two incidents, on 31 May 2013 and on 4 June 2013 respectively.
Upon Ye Haiyan’s release, she continued to be subjected to intimidation and harassment. In June she was forced to leave her home after being evicted by her landlord, following an escalation in the campaign against her. She then moved to Zhongshan in Guangdong province, where her child was refused permission to enrol in school and finally, electricity to her apartment was cut.
Front Line Defenders believes that the campaign of intimidation and harassment against Ye Haiyan and her family are directly related to her peaceful and legitimate activities in defence of human rights, in particular women’s and children’s rights. Front Line Defenders is concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Ye Haiyan and her family, particularly in the light of the reports of threats made against them by local police officers.
