Lu Jun has spent the past nine years helping people with communicable diseases such as hepatitis and HIV fight the discrimination they face on a daily basis. Lu, 40, founded and now directs a non-profit organisation called the Beijing Yirenping Centre, which has been involved in hundreds of lawsuits targeting prejudice. He decided to become an activist after hearing about a distressing incident in which an infected university student killed a government official after being turned down for a job due to his medical condition. Lu says his work has not always been easy - he is no stranger to 'having coffee' with security officials, but he is proud of the progress his centre has made, and has ambitions to make it more influential.
What work are you involved in?
My colleagues and I founded the Yirenping Centre in 2006. We work closely with people infected with hepatitis or HIV who encounter discrimination on the mainland. Prejudice can be found at all levels - kindergartens, universities, the workplace or in government departments. We have provided legal help on more than 200 anti-discrimination lawsuits involving plaintiffs infected with hepatitis, and three lawsuits involving HIV carriers who were discriminated against by employers. We also advocate human rights and the protection of patients with mental illnesses. One aspect of our campaign is to persuade the authorities to stop sending petitioners, who are healthy, to psychiatric hospitals. We also work on safety problems involving food and drugs, from melamine-contaminated milk formula to a vaccine scandal in Shanxi that killed several children.
Why did you start the NGO?
I started my work after I joined a forum devoted to hepatitis B in 2003, after an angry graduate of a Zhejiang university stabbed a government official to death after being turned down for a job because he was infected. At the time, hepatitis carriers were barred by law from working as public servants, teachers, bus drivers or in food-processing plants. In 2006, my colleagues and I decided to found the Yirenping Centre in Beijing, after we agreed the fight for their equality was worth our time and effort. There are nearly 100 million carriers of hepatitis in China, and there is widespread trepidation over the virus. We have eight full-time employees, and the centre receives a lot of help from public interest lawyers who provide free services to infected people involved in court cases. We receive funds from international charity organisations and carry out joint projects.
What progress have you made?