Joint Statement
206 Groups Call Upon Harvard to Respond to Concerns About Transnational Repression
July 22, 2024
On July 1, 2024, the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party launched a probe into Harvard University, seeking answers after student protestors were violently dragged, interrogated, and followed by Chinese individuals during an April protest of Chinese Ambassador Xie Feng’s speech at the Harvard Kennedy School. The Select Committee expressed grave concerns about transnational repression by the Chinese government and the involvement of international students from China in acts of harassment and intimidation condoned by the Chinese government against its critics. In a letter to Harvard University’s President Garber, the Select Committee requested that Harvard provide it with a briefing and answers to a series of questions.
We the undersigned 206 organizations call upon Harvard to provide this response to the Select Committee’s questions publicly and thoroughly.
After this incident, the student victims at Harvard felt terrified, unsupported, and unsafe. Their peaceful protest of the Chinese government’s human rights abuses resulted in violence and threats as well as disciplinary action from the university. The injustice and censorship of an authoritarian regime have permeated this democratic country and been condoned at one of America’s most prestigious academic institutions.
Unfortunately, this case is not an isolated one. The CCP has increasingly applied its surveillance and censorship capabilities to monitor, deter, and punish protesters and activists overseas. Numerous human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Freedom House, and Human Rights Watch, have released detailed reports documenting transnational repression at American universities and issued guidelines for universities to best protect their students and staff. Unfortunately, current practices at Harvard and elsewhere fall far short of these guidelines.
Universities have a responsibility to protect and promote the human rights of their community members. Both the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression have defined such responsibilities that higher education institutions owe to their staff and students based on international law and statements of intergovernmental bodies.
Harvard’s response to this probe is crucial to the safety of all current and future students at Harvard. To counter censorship, whether external or self-imposed, and protect academic freedom and freedom of expression, Harvard must provide a public response to ensure that all students at risk of transnational repression have knowledge of and access to support mechanisms. Moreover, clarification of existing policies and practices is a necessary first step toward instituting sufficient protections.
For this reason, we call on Harvard to:
1. Publicly provide thorough responses to the questions posed by the US House Select Committee on the CCP in a timely fashion;
2. Commit to identifying and addressing gaps in existing safety and support mechanisms for students facing transnational repression in close consultation with students (including the victims of the case in question), student organizations, and human rights organizations;
3. Commit to combating transnational repression by the Chinese government and the involvement of international students from China in acts of harassment and intimidation condoned by the Chinese government against its critics in close consultation with students (including the victims of the case in question), student organizations, and human rights organizations
Signed,
Alberta Uyghur Association
Amnesty International USA
Arizona For Hong Kong
Arizona State University Hong Kong Student Association
Asian Lawyers Network (ALN)
Asociación Cultural Tibetano-Costarricense
Associazione Italia-Tibet
Aus-Hong Kong Connex
Australia Tibet Council
Bharat Tibet Sangh, Noida
Bitter Winter Magazine
Boston Chinese Diaspora for Human Rights
Boston Uyghur Association
CADAL (Argentina)
Campaign For Uyghurs
Canada Hong Kong Concern
Canada-Hong Kong Link
Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR)
Center for Uyghur Studies
Central Asian Student Association at Harvard
China Against the Death Penalty
China Alarm
China Deviants
China Dissent Network
China Yesterday 昨日中国
Chinese Youth Stand for Tibet 华语青年挺藏会
Citizens Daily CN
Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP
Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP at Harvard
Cornell Society for the Promotion of East Asian Liberty
Covenants Watch
Dear Asian Youth @ Somerville
East Bay Taiwanese Association
East Turkistan Association of Canada
East Turkistan National Movement
End the Uyghur Genocide
European Uyghur Institute
Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA)
Forward Alliance
Foundation Voice of Tibet
Free Chinese in Poland
Free HK Media
Free Tibet
Free Uyghur Now
Freedom House
Freiheit für Hongkong e.V. (FFHK)
Friends of Tibet, New Zealand
Germany Stands with Hong Kong
Ghost Island Media
Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities
Greater New York Region Overseas Taiwanese Pen Club
Grupo de Apoio ao Tibete-Portugal
Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Women’s Association
Harvard College Students for Uyghur Solidarity
Harvard Ethnic Studies Coalition
Harvard Undergraduate South Asian Women’s Collective
Harvard Undergraduate Taskforce for Asian Progressive Advocacy and Studies
Harvard Undergraduate Tibetan Cultural Association
HKersUnited
Hong Kong Affairs Association of Berkeley
Hong Kong Aid 港援
Hong Kong Committee in Norway
Hong Kong Democracy Council
Hong Kong Labour Rights Monitor
Hong Kong Outlanders in Taiwan
Hong Kong Social Action Movement (HKSAM)
Hongkonger in Deutschland e.V. (HKDE)
Hongkongers in Britain (HKB)
Hongkongggag
Human Rights in China
Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan (HRNTT)
Human Trafficking Search
Humanitarian China
India Tibet Friendship Manch Hazaribagh Jharkhand
India Tibet Friendship Manch Nagpur Maharashtra
India Tibet Friendship Society NAGPUR
International Observatory of Religious Liberty of Refugees (ORLIR)
International Support for Uyghurs
International Tibet Network
Japan Uyghur Association
Jewish Movement for Uyghur Freedom
Judicial Reform Foundation 民間司法改革基金會
Justice For All: Save Uyghur Campaign
Keep Taiwan Free
Ketagalan Media
Lady Liberty Hong Kong (LLHK)
Latvia for Tibet, Association
Lex Consilium Foundation, New Delhi NCR
McGill Students for Uyghur Solidarity
Mid-Peninsula Taiwanese Association
NewYork Bluebird (紐約青鳥行動)
North America Taiwanese Women’s Association, Northern California Chapter
North American Taiwan Studies Association
North American Taiwanese Professors’ Association (NATPA)
North American Taiwanese Women Association, Boston
North American Taiwanese Women’s Association
Northern California Hong Kong Club
NYC Democracy Wall
Overseas Taiwanese Solidarity Against Legislative Abuse
Penn State Students For Hong Kong
Philly for Hong Kong
Raise the Voices
RangZen Tibete Livre, Natal, RN, Brazil
Rangzen: International Tibet Independence Movement
Regional Tibetan Youth Congress Bangalore
Regional Tibetan Youth Congress Baroda, Student Union, Gujurat
Regional Tibetan Youth Congress Belgium
Regional Tibetan Youth Congress Chandigarh, India
Regional Tibetan Youth Congress Dharamshala
Regional Tibetan Youth Congress Jalandhar
Regional Tibetan Youth Congress Toronto
Regroupement pour la responsabilité sociale des entreprises (RRSE)
Roof Of The World Foundation, Indonesia
Rutgers Taiwan Study Association
Safeguard Defenders
Santa Barbara Friends of Tibet
Save Tibet Austria
Senior Taiwanese Association of Northern California
Southeast Bay Taiwanese Association
Stand With Hong Kong Japan
Stanford Tibetan Student Union
Star Shiner 擦星星事务所
Students for a Free Tibet Academy of Finance and Enterprise
Students for a Free Tibet Austria
Students for a Free Tibet Bay Area
Students for a Free Tibet Belgium
Students for a Free Tibet Boston
Students for a Free Tibet Chicago
Students for a Free Tibet Colorado
Students for a Free Tibet Columbia University
Students for a Free Tibet Delhi
Students for a Free Tibet Earlham College
Students for a Free Tibet France
Students for a Free Tibet India
Students for a Free Tibet International
Students for a Free Tibet Italy
Students for a Free Tibet Itanagar
Students for a Free Tibet Jalandhar
Students for a Free Tibet Japan
Students for a Free Tibet La Salle Academy
Students for a Free Tibet Middletown High School
Students for a Free Tibet Minnesota
Students for a Free Tibet New York & New Jersey
Students for a Free Tibet Philadelphia
Students for a Free Tibet Switzerland
Students for a Free Tibet the Netherlands
Students for a Free Tibet Toronto
Students for a Free Tibet United Kingdom
Students for a Free Tibet University of Minnesota
Students for a Free Tibet Wisconsin
Students for a Free Tibet Yale University
Students for Falun Gong
Swedish Tibet Committee
Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty
Taiwan Association for Human Rights
Taiwan Democracy
Taiwan Labour Front
Taiwan-Hong Kong Union for Democracy
Taiwanese Alliance for Interculture (TAI)
Taiwanese American Federation of Northern California
Taiwanese Association of America
Taiwanese Association of America Boston Chapter
Taiwanese Association of America New Jersey Chapter
The Tibet Support Committee, Denmark
Tibet Action Institute
Tibet Forum Jawaharlal Nehru University
Tibet Initiative Deutschland
Tibet Michigan
Tibet Support Group Chile
Tibet Support Group Ireland
Tibet Support Group Netherlands
Tibetan Association of Boston (TAB)
Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD)
Tibetan Community in Britain
Tibetan Community in Netherlands
Tibetan Community Queensland
Tibetan Students Association, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi
Tibetan Youth Association in Europe
Tibetan Youth Congress
Torontonian HongKongers Action Group
United Uyghur Youth
University of Minnesota Tibetan American Student Association
US Hongkongers Club
US Taiwan Watch
US-Tibet Coalition Group
Uyghur American Association
Uyghur Collective
Uyghur Human Rights Project
Uyghur NextGen Project
Uyghur Youth Initiative
Victoria HongKongers Association (Australia)
Voces de Tíbet (Mexico)
Voluntary Tibet Advocacy Group Austria
Voluntary Tibet Advocacy Group Australia
Voluntary Tibet Advocacy Group Germany
Voluntary Tibet Advocacy Group India
Voluntary Tibet Advocacy Group United Kingdom
We the Hongkongers
Western Pacific Fellowship Project
Wings of Tibet-Sikkim, India
World Liberty Congress
World United Formosans for Independence – USA
World Uyghur Congress
Young Uyghurs (Unga Uigurer)
Youth Liberation Front of Tibet, Eastern-Turkestan, Manchuria & Inner-Mongolia
Youth Taiwan Initiative of the German-Taiwanese Association