A Canadian immigration court recently found against defecting Chinese official Han Guangsheng’s application for refugee status on the basis that he had been complicit in his government’s crimes against humanity.
Han, who defected to Canada in 2001, is the former chief of the Liaoning Province Shenyang City Judicial Bureau. He was responsible for overseeing four labor camps and two prisons in the northeast Chinese city of Shenyang. The camps, at their peak, held upwards of 500 Falun Gong practitioners, detained without trial for their unwillingness to give up their beliefs.
Han says he knows that instances of torture did take place in his camps, though he acted within his power to try to stop them.
The court’s ruling that members of the Chinese security apparatus are complicit in crimes against humanity is welcomed. It is time that western governments stopped speaking so softly about the obvious: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) systematically abuses the human rights of large parts of China’s population.
However, Han’s case begs further consideration.
In an environment in which orders related to Falun Gong come not from those of Han’s status but directly from the top communist leaders, and where officials’ compensation is tied to their effectiveness in “transforming” Falun Gong practitioners, church members and political dissidents, Han’s efforts to alleviate repression deserve recognition.
He released over 150 Falun Gong practitioners from a labor camp without orders to do so, and he did not pursue practitioners who had escaped. He claims to have fired a security officer who looked on and did not stop the electric shock torture of a 15-year-old girl in one of his camps.
Han also, to the displeasure of his higher-ups, submitted reports of severe torture and mistreatment of women in the Masanjia Labour Camp- the only camp in Shenyang he did not oversee- to supervising authorities.
Knowing that failure to follow orders from above could jeopardize his own standing and security, Han seems still to have made an honest effort.
In 2001, he traded his high rank, chauffeur, and government perks, for the scorn of his colleagues, a basement room in Toronto, and his conscience.
Perhaps most important is the impact the decision on Han’s application will have on other officials that may follow. Han views himself as Oskar Schindler who protected Jews during Nazi terror in Germany. If Han is sent back to China, to almost certain punishment for his now-public stance, what message will it send to other officials whose conscience tells them not to side with the communist oppressors, but who lack the courage to take such a stand?
In fact, Han was inspired to go public with his story by Chen Yonglin, the former 1st Secretary of the Consulate-General in Sydney who publicly announced his defection in early June, and by Hao Fengjun, a former member of the notorious 6-10 office who did the same. Just a few days ago, another high-ranking Chinese official’s defection was announced in Belgium. For all that we know, he was inspired by Han.
Han Guangsheng is deserving of refugee protection in Canada. Giving Han such status might also be one of the biggest steps Canada can take in promoting the cause of human rights in China today. It will help give others the courage to part with the CCP and its brutal, persecutory ways.
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