The Canadian Bar Association condemns recent actions by the Chinese government against lawyers simply for doing their job. These sanctions are an attack on the rule of law, democracy and freedom of expression.
The most recent sanctions – against individuals, institutions and organisations in Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States critical of the treatment of Uighur Muslims in Xianjiang – include lawyers in the United Kingdom for the release of a legal opinion on human rights violations.
These sanctions come in the wake of recent Chinese government action to deny two lawyers representing a group of democracy activists – the Hong Kong 12 – access to their clients, in violation of Article 18 of the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, and subsequently to revoke their licences to practise law.
The CBA stands with its colleagues around the world in efforts to uphold the rule of law and respect for human rights.