Free Chinese human rights activists and stop Milwaukee Tool Slave Labor

Good afternoon, everyone!

I’m Shi Minglei, I’m a global E-Commerce business leader, mom of a 7-year-old, and accidental Chinese activist.  

My husband Cheng Yuan is the founder of NGO Changsha Funeng. He also established several NGOs including NGO Nan Jing Tian Xia Gong, and the Guangzhou Equal Opportunity center before that. Cheng Yuan is a humorous, humble, passionate, and open-minded person. He is so passionate about promoting human rights and practicing civil society. 

I saw him as a symbol of the grassroots Chinese civil society, a person out of the box.

He studied finance in college, quit his job in a bank, studied law by himself, and founded his first NGO Nanjing Tian Xia Gong in 2008. He is not a lawyer, but he studied law by himself and won several influential public lawsuits. He knew how to connect and communicate with people; these skills helped him a lot in participating in and building the community.

In China, we have 100 million Hepatitis carriers, 75 million disabled people, 6 million families-lost-their-single-child, and 1 million HIV carriers, and more than 100 million people are victims of the Chinese government's birth control policies. 

#BirthRights #生育权 #计划生育 #黑户

Can you imagine till 2014, in a digital modern world, when we were talking about AI, data intelligence, and IoT, there are 18 million Chinese people forbidden to get a photo ID, which led to them having no access to register a SIM card/ internet, no access to education, and even forbidden to use public transportation? Only because their birth was not authorized by the Chinese government! Then the government deprived their rights, everything. They lived in darkness, left behind and forgotten.

Cheng Yuan saw these people and did lots of work to change their living conditions through administrative litigation, advocacy, legal aid, and lawsuits. One day, he and his lawyer friend, and also a journalist, were chased by the local policemen on the highway for 150 miles after he visited one victim.

His work is influential and fruitful, However, today, the Chinese government doesn’t allow any independent human rights NGOs to exist in China anymore.

On July 22, 2019, Cheng Yuan was suddenly arrested by Changsha national security, accused of Subversion of the State Power, secretly sentenced to 5 years, and deprived of his rights of access to legal defense. Now he is jailed in Hunan Chishan prison and detained for 3 years and 8 months.

At the same time, the Chinese government uses all kinds of methods to try to silence me and my family members.

1.    On the same day of Cheng Yuan’s arrest, I was suddenly put into living under surveillance for 6 months, The Chinese national security never shows their ID and name but seized my ID, passport, and driver's license.

2.    My bank account was immediately frozen.

3.    They use my kid to threaten me. They raided my house at night and threaten me in front of my daughter. They interrogated me overnight for 20 hrs and forbade me to pick up my daughter from preschool.

4.    They also made me socially dead overnight by harassing and threatening all my relationships including my parents, relatives, friends, colleagues, and even my ex-boss. People are living under censorship, surveillance, and fear, which made them afraid to contact me, also made me hesitate to contact them because I love them and I want to protect them.

Since Jan. 2022, He has been jailed in Hunan Chishan prison, where he was tortured and became forced labor. Recently my brother-in-law and my sister-in-law were finally allowed to visit Cheng Yuan.

1)   Cheng Yuan is very thin, he lost weight a lot, and now he only has 110 lbs. left.

2)   His hair all turned grey.

3)   And he told my family members that he couldn’t accept the humiliation. He said when he talked with the prison guards, he was forced to kneel one knee to them and raise up his hands. Cheng Yuan refused, so he was put into solitary confinement for 3 months, and experienced food deprivation, and physical and mental abuse.

Besides that, what made me angrier is that he became a forced laborer and worked for some big western brands. One of the brands is a famous American brand Milwaukee Tool. The Milwaukee gloves are produced in Hunan Chishan prison. Look at these gloves, this model is their besting selling in Home Depot, but it’s made by Chinese political prisoners.

I also did a deep dive into their supply chain and found a fund in France, a big company in the Czech Republic, and a company in Germany also involves in forced labor.

1)   The work condition at Hunan Chishan prison is outrageous.

2)   Every day they need to work for 13-15 hours.

3)   Only 4 days rest the whole year.

4)   One victim testified that he worked five months but only get paid 100RMB which equals $14.

5)   No protective masks and the hazardous materials in the workshop could result in permanent damage to their health.

6)   A quality control manager working for Milwaukee tool asked the prison guards to beat prisoners a lot if there is any quality, process, or lead time delay.

Today we are here to celebrate the Franco-Germany human rights award for Chang Weiping, which I’m glad to witness. And congratulate Chang Weiping, his wife also my best friend Zijuan, and their son Daniel.

Chang Weiping has been arbitrarily detained for 3 years, while my husband has been detained for 3 years and 8 months. Chang Weiping and my husband were good friends, they both fought for the rights of disadvantaged groups, gender equity, birth rights, and religious rights.

They paid a lot, and our families paid a lot. They even didn’t realize they were making a big sacrifice. And as their wives, we didn't realize our families sacrifice so much. We were both forced to leave China to protect our kids and today we are still fighting for their basic legal rights.

There are lots of things you could do to stand for justice:

1. Offer regular and steadfast support to the Chinese human rights defenders, try to visit them in the prison, and ask the Chinese government to release them.
2. Stop forced labor: Make sure forced labor products are banned and stop companies in your country involving in forced labor. For example, Milwaukee Tool, also sells in Germany, and in the EU, so their gloves should be banned immediately. 
3. Provide resources and tools to stop human rights violations against Chinese activists.

Every day, I dream of a free China; I dream families like us could be reunited; I dream justice comes to us. To make this happen, let’s work together!!