Mr. Donald Tsang
Chief Executive
Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong
People’s Republic of China
Dear Mr Tsang ,
Happy New Year!
We, leaders and members of the Asian Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Asia ( AsiaDHRRA), a network of twelve non-government organizations in eleven countries in Asia, and an accredited NGO in UN, ASEAN and WTO MC6, call for the immediate release of protestors from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and mainland China, who are facing charges of unlawful assembly for the events that transpired on the December 17, 2005 near the vicinity of the 6th World Trade Organization’s Ministerial Conference site in Hong Kong.
Many international groups, including ourselves, went to Hongkong to articulate our issues against unfair trade rules and anti-development policies of WTO. We believe the14 protestors, many of them farmers, were attempting to voice their frustration and desperation at yet another round of the WTO Ministerial conference that was seen to yield no measures to alleviate poverty or to address their concerns.
We also urge the Hongkong government to conduct an impartial and thorough inquiry into the human rights violations and the violence used on the part of the Hong Kong police. It has come to our knowledge that various human rights organizations have documented numerous instances of human rights violations by the Hongkong police during the process of detaining over 1300
anti- WTO protestors.
We appeal to your government’s compassion , tolerance for democratic expression and adherence to human rights standards. We call on you to release all the 14 detainees unconditionally, to drop all charges against them and re-unite them with their families and communities.
Thank you for your attention on this matter.
Respectfully yours,
Ms. Marlene D. Ramirez
Secretary General
AsiaDHRRA
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