WRIC Protests the Detention of He Fangmei’s Young Daughters by the Chinese GOV
Women’s Rights in China (WRIC) 06-01-2024
Today is June 1, International Children’s Day. Children are immersed in their own festival, but in Henan Province, China, two young girls have been imprisoned in the “Xinxiang Freemason Psychiatric Hospital” for 3 and 4 years respectively. Since April 2024, these two girls, aged 7 and 3, have been missing. This is the current tragic experience of the two young daughters of the human rights defender and founder of “Vaccine Baby Home” He Fangmei.
WRIC produced the image.
WRIC produced the image.
In 2018, He Fangmei’s daughter was paralyzed due to a neurological disease after being vaccinated. He Fangmei established the “Vaccine Baby Home” to defend her rights and demand accountability and compensation. In October 2020, He Fangmei took her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter to protest in front of the Huixian County Government in Henan Province, but all three were sent to a mental hospital for detention. Her husband Li Xin, who helped his wife defend her rights, was also arrested and sentenced to 5 years in prison in the same month. At this time, He Fangmei was 5 months pregnant. In February 2021, He Fangmei gave birth to her third child in the Xinxiang Masonic Mental Hospital in Henan Province.
The picture was from He Fangmei’s original Twitter.
Since the summer of 2023, the elder sister, who was entrusted by her younger sister He Fangmei to visit and had custody, has not seen the sisters again. In April 2024, the family learned that the girls were taken to the mayor’s office, but were not taken back to the mental hospital. Prior to this, there was information that a 7-year-old daughter was sexually assaulted. WRIC have reason to suspect that after this case of imprisonment continued for many years, the relatives could not see them, and then the girls disappeared. This case shared many logical connections with the previous cases of sexual assaults. We suspect that this is no longer a single case of imprisonment, but a serious criminal case of dereliction of duty and rape of young girls!
He Fangmei and her husband have been defending the rights of their daughter who was harmed by vaccines since 2018.
At present, in China, places of detention without trial have expanded from traditional detention centers and detention houses to mental hospitals or clinics, education camps, etc. at all levels, and they are extremely large-scale. He Fangmei and her three young children were “protected” by the government in a mental hospital for a long time. This is a typical case of China’s kidnapping and intimidation of human rights defenders and dissidents. I believe this is not the first case, nor will it be the last case.
Chinese authorities arbitrarily detained He Fangmei’s children as a means of collective punishment of her family. Collective punishment and arbitrary detention, in terms of international human rights law, are the illegal use of children as a weapon to punish human rights defenders and violate basic standards of morality and human rights. China has long signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Chinese government has the obligation and responsibility to respect and protect the three young children and their mother He Fangmei and should humanely home her three children (including a disabled girl), subsidize their living and education expenses, and let them be loved and have a dignified life with relatives and friends.
A country’s attitude towards women and children is related to the progress of civilization in its society. Respecting women and protecting the rights of children are the top priorities for safeguarding people’s livelihood and are the foundation for the development and prosperity of the country and nation and the maintenance of family happiness. WRIC protests the Chinese government’s use of children as weapons to attack human rights defenders! Condemn the Chinese authorities for kidnapping children by government means! Condemn the government for arbitrary detention and abuse of children and their mothers. We urge the Chinese government to abide by the “International Law” and release human rights defenders He Fangmei and her two daughters, so that the 11-year-old brother and two little sisters can reunite with their parents.
WRIC will continue to pay attention to He Fangmei’s family, especially the two young girls who disappeared after being detained in a mental hospital. We will continue to speak out for China’s vulnerable groups!
Dong Qiongyao, a girl who was detained in a mental hospital by the Chinese government in February 2020 and has been missing ever since. (WRIC produced the image)