November 20 th , 2007. Sourced from China Labor Watch, just after 5 p.m. it was learned that at 3 p.m. on the same day, Huang Qingnan, director of Long'gang district's Migrant Workers' Center ( dagongzhe zhongxin ) was stabbed. A reporter immediately telephoned Huang Qingnan, but the phone was answered by a friend of his who said that Huang's condition was very serious and they were rushing to save him. Earlier in the day around 3 p.m. Huang Qingnan and a friend Mr. Zhu were chatting at Longhu village when a motorcycle without any license plates drove up. Two young men in their twenties got off of the motorcycle, and each on of them bearing a knife, began wildly stabbing at Huang Qingnan. Huang Qingnan immediately fell on his back and received six knife wounds of up to 15 centimeters in length on his legs and other places. His left leg was broken and bleeding uncontrollably. After the attack the two thugs rode away on a motorcycle parked at a parking lot nearby. Mr. Zhu immediately called the police and took Huang Qingnan to the Shenzhen Long'gang Central Hospital to receive treatment. According to a doctor in the emergency roomed, it appeared as if he might lose use of his left leg.
Huang Qingnan is currently the director of Shenzhen's Migrant Workers' Occupational Health and Safety Center , which is a labor rights protection organization registered with the department of commerce. Their primary activities are to provide migrant workers with free services such as a library, labor law education, and legal counseling. Their daily activities include holding cultural activities, labor law education and counseling, and by using various methods, seeking to improve the rights protection consciousness of migrant workers. Because the new Labor Contract Law is about to come into effect, the center has conducted a series of outreach programs in order to disseminate information about this law. These activities may have led to opposition from some factory owners.
These thugs attacking Huang Qingnan was really not a coincidence, as this is just the most recent and most serious example of labor rights advocates in Shenzhen being attacked. Just one week before the incident with Huang Qingnan, on November 13 th Shenzhen's Long'gang district labor rights activist Li Jinxin was kidnapped and beaten by unidentified thugs. He is still receiving treatment in the Longcheng hospital in Long'gang district.
Li Jinxin also does labor rights protection work in Shenzhen. Recently he has helped workers with factory relocation cases, which has led to dissatisfaction on the part of some enterprises. On 13 November Li was at the Long'gang office when he received a call from someone who was looking for legal assistance. Because the caller said he was unfamiliar with the area, Li Jinxin went down to the street to meet him. As soon as he got downstairs, a three-row commercial vehicle pulled up, and a few people rushed out and pushed him into the vehicle. The assailants then covered his head and told him not to talk. They drove to the rather remote Baohe Road area where they pushed Li out, and two thugs proceeded to beat him with metal rods. Then the car took off. His body was covered with wounds and he was bleeding uncontrollably. At the hospital they found that he had suffered multiple fractures in his right humerus and fibula. Li Jinxin also believes that he was attacked because of his labor advocacy work.
Before Huang Qingnan was stabbed, his offices had been attacked on October 11 th and November 14 th . A little bit after 3 p.m. on October 11 th , four young people wielding metal rods pulled up to the Migrant Workers' Occupational Health and Safety Office. They walked over to the office and proceeded to smash the glass door to pieces before taking off again. A month later on November 14 th , just after 3 p.m. a commercial truck came to the center. A few young men jumped out of the vehicle and then continued to smash up the inside of the office before leaving. These two incidents were not so bad because no people were injured. After they happened, the center's employees reported it immediately the police, but there have been no developments in the cases thus far.
In the past two years there have been many incidents of labor rights advocates in Shenzhen encountering threats and violent attacks. In 2006, Zhu Xinyin, a labor rights advocate in Bao'an district was beaten by several people in front of the gate of the Labor Bureau. Duan Haining, another labor rights advocate from Long'gang district was also the victim of a violent attack. Aside from this, labor rights advocates in Shenzhen such as Qin Haixia, Qi Yunhui, and Jing Qingbo have all received threatening phone calls. The callers have threatened them with death if they continue to engage in rights protection activities for workers.
While in the past threats were made, currently there is ruthless and bloody retaliation, and this is a brazen threat to the development of the nation's legal system. We are very troubled and concerned by the repeated attacks against labor rights advocates. Over the past few years, labor rights organizations and labor rights advocates in Shenzhen and the Pearl River Delta have played an important role in helping workers to protect their rights and in maintaining social stability. Society and the government should give labor organizations a harmonious, safe and healthy space for developing. Currently conflicts between labor and capital are a significant issue, and if workers' and labor rights advocates' rights and interests are not protected, it will become a very serious problem. We vehemently denounce this ruthless and bloody behavior and call upon the government and relevant government agencies to fully investigate and attack this sort of illegal criminal behavior in order to protect the personal safety of labor rights advocates and to maintain social stability.
Image1: Scene where Huang was attacked
Image2: Huang's injury
Image3: Huang's medical record states that besides the possibility of Huang's losing his left leg, the victim also suffers severe injuries in the areas of right arm, right leg, left waist, and left intestine.
Image4: Migrant Workers' Occupational Health and Safety Office after the harassment
