About The League of Chinese Victims

Background
The League of Chinese Victims is a civil society initiative in mainland China for the protection of fundamental lawful rights and interests. The rights defense campaign launched by the League makes no political demands, but aims to protect statutory rights and resist the violation of these rights in accordance with Chinese law. The campaign was launched in mainland China in 2000 and began to gather greater momentum in 2003. The campaign strives to challenge the power of the government and big business over the rights and interests of the people through demonstrations, legal proceedings and media coverage. The campaign initially focused on protecting the rights of consumers and property owners, but has subsequently taken on more sensitive issues, such as the protection of people’s political rights, which has become increasingly important in Chinese society in recent years. Since 2005, increasing awareness of human rights has led more and more people to participate in our campaign, as a result of which they have suffered suppression by the Chinese government.

The League of Chinese Victims consists mainly of China’s disenfranchised, dispossessed and underprivileged. Lack of knowledge and resources has left such people with no recourse when their rights are violated. The victims confront the insatiable venality of officials and businessmen in collusion for mutual benefit, and unscrupulous business interests backed by self-serving bureaucrats at all levels of government. The lawless elites use underworld tactics to oppress any who defy them, bullying and humiliating the law-abiding people who are deprived of their rights, while the media’s silence covers up their illegal acts. In view of this situation, we recognize that it is necessary for us to work closely with legal professionals and make use of the legal system in order to compel the authorities to punish the perpetrators and take measures toward social reform. Although we may pay a heavy price in this struggle, we believe that victory lies ahead, as a country without a mature legal system can have neither true power nor true harmony.

As the Universal Declaration of Human Right announced by the United Nations marked its 60th anniversary on 10 December 2008, the League of Chinese Victims was registered as an official organization in Hong Kong on that same day.

Our Objectives
As an independent non-governmental organization, the League is dedicated to promoting and defending human rights among the underprivileged people of China. We aim to defend our legitimate rights in a peaceful, reasonable, orderly and moderate way under the existing laws of China. We endeavor to unite our force and voice our concern over the cases of current victims well as historic cases of injustice in China in the pursuit of equity and justice and the development of human rights, democracy and rule of law in China.

Our Mission
The League’s imperative is to unite widely dispersed human rights defenders into an organized and independent group. Only through accomplishing this goal can we prevent China’s victims of injustice from becoming the discarded refuse of our society. The banding together of victims of injustice in defense of their own rights and interests ultimately concerns not only their personal interests, but also the ongoing development of China’s social, economic, political and judicial systems. With China’s thriving economy contributing to even greater social injustice, the League takes up the historic mission of promoting social development and progress in China.

How We Work
1.    We will disseminate and promote legal concepts among China’s victims of injustice, and cooperate with legal professionals in using cases of injustice to promote economic, administrative and legal reform under China’s existing laws.
2.    We will keep the international community informed of the struggle and suppression of victims of injustice in China, and through the resulting international concern impress on the Chinese government the importance of fulfilling its responsibilities under the international human rights charters and agreements to which it is a signatory. We will undertake collective negotiations on an equal footing with the government over rights violations with a view to timely and effective resolution of conflict.
3.    With the participation of the general public in China, we will establish a Web site for the League of Chinese Victims to serve as a platform for communication and exchange and to offer timely and appropriate guidance to those in need of it.
4.    The Chinese Victims Foundation is to be established through collaboration with other NGOs, the United Nations, governments around the world and individual donors to provide assistance and relief to victims and their families.

Our Guiding Principles
The League of Chinese Victims is a non-profit, non-political and independent organization that is not affiliated with any government, political party or religious group.

We are opposed to all forms of violence. We encourage victims of injustice in China to seek protection through legal action. The League will help victims seek international assistance in the event that they lose all further recourse through the domestic legal system.

We are supported financially by our members and foundations, and do not accept sponsorship or subsidy subject to political considerations.