The profession of lawyer in today China is one of the most dangerous ones. Lawyer’s duty is not to offer his services as a defendant but to support the Chinese Communist Party’s rule.
This is what China’s Ministry of Justice announced. According to the notice released on March 27 the evaluation of the professionalism of lawyers is directly connected to the way they defend the socialist rule in China and of course the Party.
Disrespect of human rights in China has many aspects and affects ethnic groups, religious minorities, gender rights activists, workers’ rights activists and supporters of democratization. The problem is that lawyers who dare to take on the defence of victims against the Chinese authorities are also persecuted and imprisoned.
According to the announcement party loyalty is a required qualification and can determine the acquisition of the practicing license.
As reported by IAPL Monitoring Committee on Attacks on Lawyers the first criterion is that a lawyer “must support the leadership of the CCP, defend the rule of law under socialism, abide by the Constitution and laws, and adhere to the professional ethics and discipline of lawyers.”
The second is that all lawyers “must not have been subject to disciplinary action, administrative punishment, industry penalty, nor credit penalty during the past five years of practice.”
The Chinese regime becomes more and more intolerant. The Ministry’s notice wants to intimidate lawyers by offering their services to persecuted persons and deprive arrested activists of the right of defence.
It is also a direct threat to the human rights lawyers since their practice licenses are now at risk.
During the 37th round of the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue in Brussels the EU expressed its expectation that female human rights defenders including Wang Yu, Li Yuhan, and Li Xiaoling would be released.
This is the gloomy reality that lawyers face today in China.
