Joint Statement

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