Empowerment and Rights Institute (EARI) is a Chinese non-governmental organization based in Beijing which focuses on protecting the human rights of disadvantaged groups including farmers, laborers (esp. female and child labor), migrant workers, complainants and petitioners, and victims of forced-relocation.
EARI follows three fundamental principles : to advocate for basic human rights in the protection of ordinary citizens, to promote rule of law through upholding constitutionalism, and to help vulnerable groups join into unions or associations so as to empower them politically. EARI has undertaken a variety of training, advocacy and campaigning activities including:
PROMOTION OF RURAL DEMOCRACY
In Inner Mongolia, in Sichuan and Yunan of southwest China , Heilongjiang and Liaoning province of the northeast regions of China, as well as in the provinces of Shandong and Hebei, EARI has carried out community initiative projects that aim to promote grassroots democracy through the empowerment of farmers and petitioner s. These initiatives have resulted in expanding the depth and breadth of democracy by holding local officials accountable with recall elections, and ensuring that even the most remote villages have free and open elections.
EMPOWERMENT OF FARMERS, PETITIONERS AND OTHERS
EARI facilitates the networking of farmers, laborers and petitioners into cohesive groups. This empowers these disadvantaged groups by making them more effective in asserting their rights through the political and democratic processes.
MONITORING OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
EARI has collected over 2000 cases related to all sorts of rights violations. These cases are documented and transferred to a digital storage media. We then use this data for further research in specific types of rights violations, such as arbitrary detention, unfair labor conditions, forced eviction and housing rights violations, land commandeering, and violation of criminal/ administrative procedural rights.
ADDRESSING LABOR ISSUES
In the coastal area, such as Guangdong, and in some semi-urban areas, we have carried out labor research. Particularly we have been concerned with female labor and child labor. In the future, we plan to combine our research on labor issues together with other NGOs in China to promote better protection of labor rights .
EARI uses a participatory approach in helping disadvantaged and disenfranchised groups. This means that farmers, petitioners, and victims are directly involved in both the decision making process and execution of projects that aim to address their grievances and improve their situations.
EARI is actively involved in engaging the media to expose human rights violations, both at a national and international level. EARI continually contributes to the dialogue of human rights in China by sharing our research and information with other organizations and international protection mechanisms .
The core members of EARI were founded as a group in Nov. 2003 as Earth and Rights Institute with activities commencing shortly thereafter. In January 2005, Earth and Rights Institute changed its name to Empowerment and Rights Institute.
EARI is currently involved in the following activities:
Providing Case Intervention and Legal Services to Farmer and Petitioner groups.
Monitoring of rural elections in Shandong , Shanxi, Hubei p rovince s and keeping a keen interest and closely watch development of both administrative elections (at village, township level) and parliamentary elections (in People’s Congress at local and national level) .
Conducting investigations into land loss by farmers as well as violence against farm activists and elected village officials , in Shandong, Guangdong, Sichuan provinces and Inner Mongolia region .
Assisting farm activists in organizing conferences. These conferences aim to establish connections between activists in different areas and to mobilize farmers so that township government is held responsible for land violations and incidents of violence. (Over 500 individuals participated in our last conference in Jinan, Shandong province in spring, 2005) .
Monitoring, reporting and media advocacy. EARI has been in contact with numerous media outlets including: Reuters, Wall Street Journal, AFP, NPR, Washington Post, AP, and CBC besides a great number of domestic Chinese media
Providing Parallel reports to the United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Committee regarding the problem of forced eviction and housing/land rights violations throughout China (done in April, 2004), and parallel report to the UN Committee on the Rights of Child on the children’s plight whose rights were denied as a result of incompetent and unfair justice system
Hebei Child labor case. We have conducted several fact-finding missions in which members of our staff traveled to Hebei and interviewed family-members of children who died in factory accidents. EARI is now undertaking a research project that will both give an overview of the child-labor situation in China, and additionally focus on the use of children as a labor force in small, private factories’ throughout rural China.
Shanxi, Xi’an land loss. Collaboration with four farmer Petitioners representing over 20,000 displaced residents.
Working with petitioners regarding displaced residents as a result of dam construction in Xiluodu , (the second largest dam in China, across the border between Yunan and Sichuan Provinces).
Compiling a Farmers’ Rights Manual. We conducted interviews with over 200 farmer activists who are engaged in defending farmer rights and advocating for community democracy. We are compiling successful examples into a manual for farm groups throughout the country.
