Dear Honorable UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon:
My name is Yan Hu, and I come from Shanghai, China. As the Chinese government seriously violated the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in the process of hosting the 2010 World Expo by depriving me and tens of thousands of Shanghai residents of our human rights and private properties, and that I have exhausted all legal means in China, seeking justice in vain, and that I was advised by officials of the Shanghai government to petition the United Nations, I am herein appealing to you for justice.
1. Facts and Evidence. On Dec 29, 2005, my house that I inherited from my parents and grandparents was forcibly demolished by the Shanghai government to clear space for the 2010 World Expo. My personal property was also crushed to pieces during the demolition, and my family received no compensation at all for my demolished home.
2. The Shanghai government has not only been robbing Shanghai residents of their private properties, but also has been persecuting and cracking down on those residents and their families petitioning for their rights. My husband, Bin Jiang, has been continuously defending our right to private property. The Shanghai government has been intimidating our family, tapping our phones, following us wherever we go, and has been detaining my husband under non-existent charges. My family has been living in fear.
3. The Shanghai government directed my work unit to persecute me.The company I worked for has been threatening me, deducting money from my salary and bonuses, depriving me of my right to work and promotion; I was hurt mentally and physically, and in the end, I am having serious mental problems.
4. In China, the government has blocked me from seeking justice by all legal means, and if I went to petition in Beijing, I would be subjected to more serious persecution! The Shanghai government has become an “independent kingdom”, and it does not care about the central government at all. The government asked me to petition to the United Nations. I have no choice but to come here to tell you the truth about the “Shanghai World Expo”, and to tell the international world that thousands of Shanghai residents have lost their homes to forcible demolition and are persecuted relentlessly.
5. The 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, hosted by the Chinese government, is acknowledged and supported by the United Nations; the Exhibition Hall of the United Nations at the World Expo is provided by the host free of charge. 33 international projects of the UN will be exhibited there. For this reason, I herein appeal to you, the Honorable UN Secretary General, to urge the Shanghai government to return my looted private property to me, and to stop persecuting those Shanghai residents who lost their homes to forcible demolition and relocation as a result of the 2010 World Expo, and who had no choice but to go on petitioning in vain for their private property looted by the Shanghai government!
Respectfully,
Yan Hu
Refugee of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo