Submission to the report on the protection of lawyers. The Rights Practice. December 2021 Tang Jitian (唐吉田) was prevented from boarding a flight to Japan to see his sick daughter. The authorities stated that travel “may endanger national security” but no other reasons were given.35 In recent years, detained human rights defenders and lawyers have been denied access to their lawyer of choice. Instead, a government-appointed lawyer, more susceptible to pressure from the local judicial authorities, is imposed. For example, in March 2020, the six lawyers appointed by the families of detained NGO workers, Cheng Yuan (程渊), Liu Dazhi (刘大志) and Wu Gejianxiong (吴葛健雄) were dismissed. Family members of the “Changsha Three”, as they are known, were doubtful that all three detainees separately, and of their own volition, chose to dismiss the defence lawyers appointed by their families. Wu’s father, lawyer Wu Youshui, was “personally” dismissed from taking his case, by his own son.36 Governmentappointed lawyers refused to withdraw from their cases, despite family members publicly requesting them to do so.37 7. What activities does your organization carry out to promote the independence of the legal profession? Do you co-ordinate with other organizations with similar functions in other countries or regions? Are you part of a network for this purpose? Please give examples. The Rights Practice has for many years engaged with Chinese lawyers and legal scholars on international law related to the role of the lawyer, detention and torture. We co-ordinate with other organisations to share information and advocate on issues affecting the independence of lawyers in China. For example, in October 2021, The Rights Practice worked with three other civil society organisations—International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), The 29 Principles and Safeguard Defenders—to mobilise the international community to put pressure on China to repeal ‘residential surveillance in a designated location’ (RSDL). 38 8. To what extent has, the legislation and/or measures adopted in your country because of the Covid-19 pandemic, affected the exercise of the independence of the legal profession or security of lawyers. Please explain. There is a lack of transparency and information on the extent to which Covid-19 measures have affected lawyers in China. Anecdotal evidence from Chinese lawyers and legal scholars 35 International Service for Human Rights, Front Line Defenders, Safeguard Defenders, Reporters Without Borders, and The 29 Principles, “Three years after UN review, China failing to uphold commitments on human rights defenders”. 30 November 2021. https://ishr.ch/latest-updates/three-years-after-un-review-china-failing-to-uphold-commitments-onhuman-rights-defenders-and-civil-society-space/ 36 The Rights Practice, “A Secret Criminal Process.” May 2020. https://www.rights-practice.org/news/a-secret-criminalprocess. 37 Amnesty International. “China: Authorities must immediately release imprisoned Changsha Funeng staff”. 6 August 2021. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/08/china-authorities-must-immediately-release-changsha-funengstaff/ 38 International Service for Human Rights, Safeguard Defenders, The Rights Practice and The 29 Principles. “Call on China to free defenders and #RepealRSDL”. 25 October 2021. https://ishr.ch/action/campaigns/call-on-china-to-freedefenders-and-repealrsdl/ 9