Dui Hua Welcomes New Director Michael McCune

The Dui Hua Foundation is pleased to announce that Mr. Michael McCune has been elected to the Board of Directors, effective September 30, 2009.

Mr. McCune is Executive Vice President at The China Business Network (TCBN), an online media company that serves an audience of individuals engaged in China market activities. At TCBN, he oversees all community and content operations, as well as the performance of the company’s technology platform. In this capacity, he leads the development and execution of business strategies that create content and drive audience growth.

Prior to joining TCBN, Mr. McCune spent 16 years advising retailers and consumer product companies on channel management, interactive marketing, and consumer shopping behavior. He launched his first China venture in Shanghai in 1994 when he co-founded China Link Research, a company that specialized in custom and syndicated performance data on China’s retail sector.

Throughout his time in Shanghai, Mr. McCune served in various roles with the American Chamber of Commerce. Elected to the AmCham Board of Governors in 1999, he served for three consecutive terms—engineering the first public Corporate Social Responsibility initiative by AmCham while working with other chambers to host the first public fundraiser for a non-government organization.

Mr. McCune is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he studied Chinese language. He currently resides in Oakland, California.

“Michael McCune has been a great friend and supporter of Dui Hua, and I am thrilled to welcome him to the board of directors,” said Dui Hua Executive Director John Kamm. “Michael represents a new generation of business people with concern for human rights. His experience in China, interest in emerging technology, and abiding enthusiasm for our work are all welcome assets to Dui Hua’s board.”

John Kamm Testifies before Congressional-Executive Commission on China

On Wednesday, October 7, Executive Director John Kamm gave a testimony before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) at a hearing entitled, “Human Rights and the Rule of Law in China.” The CECC holds such hearings periodically to gather information for reporting to the US Congress and the President.

Kamm’s testimony focused on issues central to Dui Hua’s work and areas of criminal justice and human rights in China, including the availability of information on political prisoners, use of special pardons such as the proposed 60th anniversary special pardon, equal access to sentence reductions and parole, capital punishment, and juvenile justice.

For the official hearing record, Kamm submitted a written testimony, “Promise and Reality: Dui Hua’s Dialogue on Human Rights with the Chinese Government,” which can be read here.

John Kamm to Testify on China's Human Rights and Rule of Law before Congressional-Executive Commission on China on October 7

Executive Director John Kamm will be among the witnesses invited to testify before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) at a hearing entitled, “Human Rights and the Rule of Law in China.” Open to the public and press, the hearing will take place on Wednesday, October 7, 2009, from 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm, in Room 628 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, in Washington, DC.

As stated in the CECC's hearing notice: “The Commission has asked a distinguished group of experts to assess the current state of criminal and civil rights defense, commercial rule of law, environmental enforcement, ethnic affairs, and political imprisonment in China. Witnesses will discuss the implications of developments in these areas for U.S. policy, offering recommendations on how the United States might best engage with the Chinese government through dialogue on human rights and rule of law issues.”

In addition to Kamm, witnesses will include Gardner Bovingdon of Indiana University, Donald C. Clarke of George Washington University Law School, and Elizabeth C. Economy of the Council on Foreign Relations.

The Congressional-Executive Commission on China’s mandate is to monitor human rights, including worker rights and the development of the rule of law in China, as well as maintain a database of information on Chinese prisoners. The Commission was formally established in 2000 as part of the legislation to grant China Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) when China entered the World Trade Organization.