Harry Wu, Executive Director of the Laogai Research Foundation and Laogai Museum, and Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, will appear as panel witnesses On Tuesday, December 6, at the Congressional-Executive Commission on China hearing: “One Year After the Nobel Peace Prize Award to Liu Xiaobo: Conditions for Political Prisoners and Prospects for Political Reform” to discuss the ongoing persecution and detention of dissidents in China.
Harry Wu and Reggie Littlejohn both serve on the Advisory Board of the Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB).
Since Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, international media has paid increased attention to Chinese human rights and political issues. However, this has not led to reform or improved political conditions for Chinese citizens; if anything, restrictions have since been tightened. Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xianbin’s unreasonably long prison sentences, Ai Weiwei’s recent $2.4 million fine for “tax evasion”, and the continued illegal detention and abuse of Chen Guangcheng and his family all illustrate the Chinese Communist Party’s increased intolerance of alternative political views.
Harry Wu will focus on the Laogai and treatment of political prisoners within the forced-labor system and of Liu in particular. He will also highlight how China has been able to ramp up Internet censorship and track down dissidents. The Laogai Research Foundation is a not-for-profit organization founded by former political prisoner Harry Wu in 1992.  Its mission is to gather information on and raise public awareness of the Laogai-China’s extensive system of forced labor prison camps.
Reggie Littlejohn will focus on forced abortion and sexual slavery in China and the plight of Chen Guangcheng and his family. She is President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, a non-partisan, international coalition to oppose forced abortion and human trafficking in China.  She is also an internationally acclaimed expert on China’s One Child Policy.
The Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting supports free flow of uncensored news from the United States to countries without free media. CUSIB opposed the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) plan to end Voice of America (VOA) radio and TV broadcasts in Mandarin and Cantonese. The planned termination of VOA broadcasts was subsequently blocked thanks to bipartisan action in Congressional committees in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The hearing will be held December 6th from 2 to 4 p.m. at 2172 Rayburn House Office Building. Please view the CECC hearing announcement for location information and details.