Wang Yu (; born 1 May 1971) is a Chinese

human rights lawyer International human rights law (IHRL) is the body of international law designed to promote human rights on social, regional, and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law are primarily made up of treaties, ag ...

. She was arrested by Chinese authorities in 2015 when

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

initiated the 709 Crackdown against

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

attorneys. She was charged with

inciting subversion of state power Inciting subversion of state power () is a crime under the law of the People's Republic of China. It is article 105, paragraph 2 of the 1997 revision of the People's Republic of China's Penal Code.life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

. She was awarded an

International Women of Courage Award The International Women of Courage Award, also referred to as the U.S. Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award, is an American award presented annually by the United States Department of State to women around the world who have ...

in 2021.

Career

Wang is a lawyer with the Fengrui law firm in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. That law firm has been targeted by the government in its crackdown, which arrested two lawyers and one intern there in addition to Wang and her husband, Bao Longjun. Late in 2016, Chinese authorities released Wang Yu on bail after she was almost certainly coerced to give a televised confession in which she denounced her colleagues and suggested that her human rights work was the result of foreign activists out to smear China. “I won't be used by them anymore,” Ms. Wang said in a video published on a Communist Party news site. Her confession followed a pattern similar to those given to Chinese authorities by other lawyers, publishers and human rights activists. Friends said that although released from detention, Wang would still remain under surveillance by Chinese authorities for years and would not be free to come and go as she pleases. Before her conversion to a human rights lawyer, Wang Yu was a business and commercial lawyer until an incident at a

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

train station in 2008. At that time she got into an argument with rail employees because she was denied entry onto a train even though she had a ticket. In a bizarre turn of events, she was charged with "intentional assault" and was imprisoned for more than 2 years. While in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

, she learned how prisoners were mistreated and

tortured Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

. When she was released in 2011, her conversion to a human rights lawyer was complete. Since then, she became part of China's

human rights movement Human rights movement refers to a nongovernmental social movement engaged in activism related to the issues of human rights. The foundations of the global human rights movement involve resistance to: colonialism, imperialism, slavery, racism, segr ...

. Her clients have included

Ilham Tohti Ilham Tohti ( ug, ئىلھام توختى, lat=Ilham Toxti, yengi=Ilⱨam Tohti; ; born October 25, 1969) is a Uyghur economist serving a life sentence in China, on separatism-related charges. He is a vocal advocate for the implementation of ...

, a well-known Uyghur intellectual, the women's rights group known as the "

Feminist Five The Feminist Five is a group of five Chinese feminists who were arrested in Beijing on March 6, 2015 for planning a protest against sexual harassment on public transportation. The quintet is composed of Li Maizi (birth name Li Tingting), Wu Ron ...

,", activist

Ye Haiyan Ye Haiyan (born 1975) is a Chinese gender activist, best known for her action in favor of women, prostitutes, and children against violence and sexual aggression. In May of 2012, her NGO office in Guangxi was raided by eight plainclothes men wh ...

, and the banned

Falun Gong Falun Gong (, ) or Falun Dafa (; literally, "Dharma Wheel Practice" or "Law Wheel Practice") is a new religious movement.Junker, Andrew. 2019. ''Becoming Activists in Global China: Social Movements in the Chinese Diaspora'', pp. 23–24, 33, 119 ...

spiritual group. It was her use of

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

to champion her causes that eventually led to her arrest on the

subversion Subversion () refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place are contradicted or reversed in an attempt to transform the established social order and its structures of power, authority, hierarchy, and social norms. Sub ...

charges. In 2015, the government's

Xinhua News Agency Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...

published a piece designed to tarnish her reputation, saying, "This arrogant woman with a criminal record turned overnight to a lawyer, blabbering about the

rule of law The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. The rule of law is defined in the ''Encyclopedia Britannica ...

, and

justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

, and roaming around under the flag of 'rights defense.'" Wang Yu's human rights work is highlighted in the 2016 documentary directed by

Nanfu Wang Nanfu Wang (born 1985) is a Chinese-born American filmmaker. Her debut film '' Hooligan Sparrow'' premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2017. Her second film, ''I A ...

, ''

Hooligan Sparrow ''Hooligan Sparrow'' is a 2016 documentary film about Ye Haiyan and other Chinese activists written and produced by Nanfu Wang Nanfu Wang (born 1985) is a Chinese-born American filmmaker. Her debut film '' Hooligan Sparrow'' premiered at the ...

''. On 4 June 2016, Wang Yu was awarded the 21st prestigious Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize also called "The award given by lawyers to a lawyer". On August 6, 2016, the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...

awarded its inaugural

International Human Rights International human rights law (IHRL) is the body of international law designed to promote human rights on social, regional, and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law are primarily made up of treaties, ag ...

Award to Wang Yu,

in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in absen ...

. “In honoring Wang Yu, we pay tribute to her steadfast commitment to doing this essential work in China. We recognize her important work to protect human rights and to advocate that the Chinese government respect the

independence of the judiciary Judicial independence is the concept that the judiciary should be independent from the other branches of government. That is, courts should not be subject to improper influence from the other branches of government or from private or partisan inte ...

and the legal profession and observe fair trial and

due process Due process of law is application by state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to the case so all legal rights that are owed to the person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual pers ...

standards—all principles guaranteed under Chinese and

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

and critical to sustaining progress toward

,” said ABA President Paulette Brown. On

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against wom ...

(8 March) in 2021 Wang Yu was given the

from the US Secretary of State, Tony Blinken. The ceremony was virtual due to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and it included an address by

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

, Dr.

Jill Biden Jill Tracy Jacobs Biden (born June 3, 1951) is an American educator and the current first lady of the United States since 2021, as the wife of President Joe Biden. She was the second lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017 when her hus ...

. After the award ceremony all of the fourteen awardees were able to take part in a virtual exchange as part an International Visitor Leadership Program. Unusually another seven women were included in the awards who had died in Afghanistan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Yu 1971 births 20th-century Chinese lawyers 21st-century Chinese lawyers Living people People from Hinggan League Chinese prisoners and detainees Chinese human rights activists Chinese women's rights activists Human rights in China Women human rights activists Chinese dissidents Political controversies in China Political repression in China Torture in China Recipients of the International Women of Courage Award