AIDS Counseling & Civil Society in China
A talk by Liang Yanyan, of the Beijing Zhiaixing Information & Counseling Center
Thursday, June 08, 2006
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
11377 Bunche Hall
UCLA
Ms. Liang is the Policy Project Coordinator for Beijing Zhiaixing Infomation & Counseling Center (formerly Beijing Aizhixing Institute of Health Education), perhaps the leading Chinese NGO dealing with HIV/AIDS education and prevention. She will discuss, from the perspective of the Beijing Zhiaixing Information & Counseling Center, civil society - government relations, the issue of access to information, relations among civil society actors, funding, registration difficulties, and other issues in the operating environment of NGOs in China.
Citing various press reports, the U.S. Congressional-Executive Committee on China in its 2005 annual report stated:
In March [2005], Chinese authorities ordered the Beijing AIDS Institute of Health Education [Beijing aizhixing jiankang jiaoyu yanjiusuo], a registered nongovernmental organization, to eliminate the terms "Health Education" and "AIDS" from its name or be closed. Institute sources voiced concern that this order would affect the group's financial operations and limit its AIDS prevention efforts. Although officials asserted that the terms violated NGO naming rules, they issued the order a week after the Institute released a report alleging that government plans for using international AIDS funds lacked adequate public participation and representative patient sampling. Similarly, local authorities in Henan province detained and arrested AIDS activists who criticized local government actions and attempted to contact higher-level government authorities.
For more information please contact
Richard Gunde
Tel: 310 825-8683
Sponsor(s): Center for Buddhist Studies
