Statement About Cao Shunli

March 21, 2014

The Committee of Concerned Scientists expresses shock and sadness at the news of the death in detention of human rights activist and lawyer Cao Shunli.

Since 2008, Cao has pushed for petitioners and activists to have a voice in China’s domestic human rights reviews and the UN’s universal periodic review (UPR). Authorities first detained Cao at Beijing airport on September 14, 2014, as she was en route to Geneva to participate in a human rights training program. She was formally arrested one month later on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”.

Cao suffered from several conditions, including tuberculosis, liver disease and uterine fibroids, according to the New York-based group Human Rights in China. Beijing’s Chaoyang district detention centre, where she was held, refused to give her medical treatment for months, causing her condition to deteriorate, even though the US Department of State, among others, had repeatedly expressed concern about her health. Cao was finally taken to a hospital on February 19 after she fell into a coma. She spent her last days hooked up to a ventilator.

China’s actions show shocking disregard of its international obligations to Cao Shunlin’s right to due process and to health care while in detention. By punishing Cao for her attempts to improve China’s participation in the UPR process, Chinese authorities also explicitly deny their obligations to the human rights of their own people and as a member of the international community.

Chinese Activist Dies After Being Denied Medical Help, Says Website (theguardian.com)

Co-chairs

Joel L. Lebowitz, Rutgers University

Paul H. Plotz, M.D., Washington, DC

Walter Reich, George Washington University

Eugene Chudnovsky, Lehman College

Alexander Greer, Brooklyn College

Vice-chairs

Astronomy – Arno Penzias, New Enterprises Associates*

Biology – Max E. Gottesman, Columbia University

Chemistry – Zafra Lerman, MIMSAD Inc.

Computer Science – Rachelle Heller, The George Washington University

Computer Science – Jack Minker, University of Maryland, College Park

Engineering – Philip Sarachik, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering

Mathematics – Simon Levin, Princeton University

Medical Sciences – J. Joseph Blum, Duke University

Honorary Board Members

Nancy Andrews, Duke University

David Baltimore, California Institute of Technology*

Alan J. Bard, University of Texas

Jacob Bigeleisen (deceased), SUNY, Stony Brook

Raoul Bott (deceased), Harvard University

Owen Chamberlain (deceased), University of California, Berkeley

Stanley Deser, Brandeis University

Edward Gerjuoy, University of Pittsburg

David Gross, (2004 Nobel Prize in Physics), Kavil Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara*

Pierre Hohenberg (deceased), New York University

Walter Kohn (deceased), University of California, Santa Barbara*

James Langer, University of California, Santa Barbara

Peter Lax, New York University

Louis Nirenberg, New York University

Marshall Nirenberg (deceased), National Institutes of Health*

Honorary Board Members

John C. Polanyi, University of Toronto*

Stuart Rice, University of Chicago

Sir Richard J. Roberts, (1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology & Medicine), New England Biolabs*

Myriam Sarachick, City College of New York

Harold Scheraga, Cornell University

Sylvan Schweber (deceased), Brandeis University

Maxine Singer, Carnegie Institution of Washington

Alfred I. Tauber, Boston University

Steven Weinberg, University of Texas, Austin*

Myrna Weissman, Columbia University

Rosalyn S. Yalow (deceased), Mount Sinai School of Medicine*

* Nobel laureate

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