Concerns Regarding Recent Amnesty International Event in Meiji University
以下为女权伙伴致国际特赦组织的邮件原文，指出邀请曾多人指控性骚扰的学运领袖王丹参与公共活动，可能对受害者与公众安全造成伤害，并呼吁国际特赦组织建立更完善的邀请与回应机制。
The following is the full text of an letter sent by feminist allies to Amnesty International, raising concerns about the invitation of an individual repeatedly accused of sexual harassment to a public event, which could cause harm to survivors and public safety. The letter also calls on human rights organizations to establish more robust mechanisms for guest selection and accountability.
Subject: [Need Response] Concerns Regarding Recent Amnesty International Event in Meiji University (Japan)
To Whom It May Concern,
We are ****, who are concerned about rights of queer and women in China and among the diaspora. Recently, it came into our attention that Amnesty International Japan planned to co-host an event with Mr. Wang Dan, known for being the former student leader as a speaker for commemorating June 4th Massacre’s 36th anniversary (event poster in the attachment). We are writing to express our concern over inviting someone who has had multiple instances of sexual misconduct accusations, reported by several reputable sources. We noticed that the event was cancelled due to “concern about public safety” (notice also attached), but we still want to communicate more on this case since information in Japanese and English is not widely available.
We translated one of the most recent reports of an interview with the survivor:
For the Japanese version: no-sexual-violence.v...
Due to the complex nature of gender-based violence, the case filed in Taiwan was not prosecuted due to limitations of jurisdiction. However, Wang has falsely claimed that this shows his innocence.
Although the judicial institute in Taiwan did not take this case, we believe that human rights organizations like Amnesty International should be sensitive to sexual misconduct and become a model of providing a safe space for everybody. We couldn’t find an organization-wide guideline to prevent sexual harassment, or concerning inviting speakers who have been accused of several instances of sexual misconduct. Speaking up on matters of gender based violence, as difficult as it is, is especially hard within the Chinese human rights circle. Survivors often face the double pressure from societal scrutiny and political oppression. In fact, Mr. Wang has hinted that the survivor was a CCP agent, weaponizing the human rights abuses in China; from the Deutsch Welle’s article, there were several persons, who got to know Mr. Wang due to his panels and talks targeting young students, complained Mr. Wang for his sexual harassment.
We hope that Amnesty International can be more considerate when choosing the speakers, as well as raise more awareness of sexual harassment within the advocacy group, since it has become a grave issue. We want to emphasize that we don’t have anything personally against Mr. Wang. Because he is one of the many examples that happened to be more well-known, and never reflect on his previous behaviors and promise to avoid repeating any future sexual misconduct, which is why we were in shock when we saw the event information, since we thought organizations like Amnesty should be well-informed. We want to know how the organization deals with cases like this now and moving forward.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments.
Thank you, and we wish you a great day.
Sincerely,