Chinese and Hongkongese students studying abroad are living in fear of intimidation, harassment and surveillance, warns Amnesty International.
The students’ families back home are also targeted, the non-profit organisation states in its latest report about Beijing’s "transnational repression in foreign universities."
The human rights organisation gathered testimonials from around 30 Chinese students. Despite being thousands of miles from home, these students portrayed a terrifying picture of how the governments of China and Hong Kong seek to silence them. Some of these students are enrolled in Belgian universities.
The report, titled "On my campus, I am afraid," includes a student’s account whose father was intimidated by Chinese security service agents, just hours after his daughter commemorated the Tian’anmen Square events.
Public actions criticising the Chinese government draw keen attention from Beijing and often lead to sanctions. Nearly a third of the students surveyed by Amnesty confessed their families were harassed by Chinese authorities to deter them from criticising the government and its policies while studying abroad.
The NGO recognises this as "transnational repression", defined as government actions aimed at silencing, controlling or discouraging dissent and criticism from Chinese nationals abroad, infringing upon their basic rights.
While roughly 900,000 Chinese study abroad, Amnesty calls on universities to "combat threats to academic freedom and human rights", and to "protect the students under their jurisdiction."
