Chinese authorities must stop blocking access to medical treatment for a land rights activist, Amnesty International said, as the annual ‘Two Sessions’ meetings of China’s government opened in Beijing.
The family of woman human rights defender Yang Li, who recently spent 15 months in detention for her advocacy on land rights, say that her condition has deteriorated to end-stage kidney failure following prolonged inability to access medical care during and following her time in custody.
According to the family, since her release police have repeatedly blocked her travel to Beijing to receive potentially life-saving dialysis treatment, restricting her freedom of movement to her home in the eastern province of Jiangsu.
The ‘Two Sessions’ – annual meetings of Chinese Party and government leadership that set the tone for political, social and economic reforms for the year to come – began on Wednesday 4 March with the elite Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, while the regular, rubberstamp National People’s Congress (NPC) annual session started on Thursday.
“Keeping Yang Li from essential treatment is unconscionable. Denying urgent care to a critically ill woman – seemingly in retaliation for her peaceful advocacy – is a glaring violation of China’s duty to respect and fulfil the right to health of all,” said Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director.
“As China’s leaders gather for the ‘Two Sessions’, we expect to hear about their commitment to improving peoples’ lives and ensuring social services; this must be matched by action and applied to all.
“The authorities must enable Yang Li’s safe transfer to a trusted hospital — including outside Jiangsu or abroad — and guarantee no reprisals against her or her relatives.”
Background
Yang Li, 46, is a land rights defender from Jintan, Jiangsu, who for years has pursued lawful channels to challenge land expropriation by local government and related human rights abuses. She was detained for her work between October 2024 and December 2025, during which time she allegedly faced torture and was denied medical treatment in violation of international standards, namely the Mandela Rules, which make clear that prisoners should enjoy the same standards of health care as non-incarcerated individuals.
Civil society groups following the case say police repeatedly blocked Yang’s attempts to reach Peking University No. 1 Hospital in January 2026 and confiscated phones from her and her father.
On 5 February 2026, UN human rights experts urged Chinese authorities to grant her immediate access to adequate medical care, detailing concerns about her treatment while in detention and, post-detention, a pattern in which police intercepted her trips for treatment, arbitrarily detained her for several hours and in one case allegedly assaulted her.
It appears that Yang did manage to make it to Beijing in early February. A hospitalization notice for Yang Li was issued by Peking University No. 1 Hospital on 11 February, but the activist was not admitted and has since been forcibly returned once again by the police to Jiangsu, where the family fears further refusal of appropriate care.
China ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2001, and has regularly vaunted its policies and political commitments to upholding economic, social and cultural rights — commitments that include protecting the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
