Los Angeles Times Profiles Advocate Who Challenged China's One-Child Policy

The Los Angeles Times on Tuesday profiled human rights advocate Chen Guangcheng, who went public with reports of abuses by family planning officials enforcing China's one-child-per-family policy (Magnier, Los Angeles Times, 7/11). The one-child policy seeks to keep China's population -- now 1.3 billion -- at around 1.7 billion by 2050. Ethnic minorities and farmers are the only groups legally exempt from the rule. Chen recorded testimony from men and women in communities in and around Linyi, China, who have experienced forced abortions and sterilizations, as well as had family members captured and tortured after they tried to hide or run from authorities. He was attempting to bring a class-action lawsuit against the Chinese government for alleged human rights abuses associated with the enforcement. Chen in September 2005 was placed under house arrest for speaking with journalists, government officials and other advocates about the one-child policy (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/10). Chen has become a "hero" in Linyi after he helped local residents with their legal issues and released his report on the one-child policy, according to the Times. His advocacy work has been recognized by Amnesty International, foreign governments and U.N. officials, and he was named as one of Time magazine's "2006's Top 100 People Who Shape Our World," the Times reports. Officials in China's Shandong province "went on the offensive" after Chen went public with reports of the abuses, the Times reports (Los Angeles Times, 7/11). Chinese police formally arrested Chen in June for his attempts to challenge the policy (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 6/27). On July 17 in a Linyi county court in Shandong, Chen is scheduled to stand trial on charges of "willfully harming public property" and "gathering masses to disturb traffic order" (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/10).

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