Human Rights

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!humanrights@lemmy.sdf.org is a safe place to discuss the topic of human rights, through the lens of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/2094988

  • Before the British government handed over Hong Kong in 1997, China agreed to allow the region considerable political autonomy for fifty years under a framework known as “one country, two systems.”
  • In recent years, Beijing has cracked down on Hong Kong’s freedoms, stoking mass protests in the city and drawing international criticism.
  • Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020 that gave it broad new powers to punish critics and silence dissenters, which has fundamentally altered life for Hong Kongers.

Archived

China pledged to preserve much of what makes Hong Kong unique when the former British colony was handed over in 1997. Beijing said it would give Hong Kong fifty years to keep its capitalist system and enjoy many freedoms not found in mainland Chinese cities.

But more than halfway through the transition, Beijing has taken increasingly brazen steps to encroach on Hong Kong’s political system and crack down on dissent. In 2020, Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong. Since then, authorities have arrested dozens of pro-democracy activists, lawmakers, and journalists; curbed voting rights; and limited freedoms of the press and speech. In March 2024, Hong Kong lawmakers passed Article 23, an additional security legislation that further cements China’s rule on the city’s rights and freedom. These moves have not only drawn international condemnation, but have also raised questions about Hong Kong’s status as a global financial hub and dimmed hopes that the city will ever become a full-fledged democracy.

[...]

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/30410703

New data released by the Chinese Communist Party's internal policing body shows a major 46.15% increase in the use of the Liuzhi system from 2023 to 2024. Over the course of last year, 38,000 people were detained by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

Liuzhi, or retention in custody, is very similar in design to the better-known residential surveillance at a designated location system (RSDL), which is traditionally used against lawyers, rights defenders and dissidents.

Both systems consist of incommunicado detentions in solitary confinement at secret locations for a period of up to six months.

Unlike RSDL however, the Liuzhi system resides entirely outside the legal system and is treated as an internal party matter (even though many of its victims are likely not party members). In Liuzhi, one does not even theoretically have a right to legal counsel.

For more information on CCDI, Liuzhi and related issues, see our longer report on this (16 Dec 2024).

Key findings from the latest report on the use of Liuzhi:

  • The number of investigations of “discipline violations” rose from 626,000 in 2023 to 877,000 in 2024, an increase of 40.09%.

  • The number of people placed into Liuzhi rose from 26,000 in 2023 to 38,000 in 2024, an increase of 46.15%.

  • Based on the above, the use of Liuzhi, the harshest form of investigation, rose not only in total number of instances used, but also relative to all investigations: 4.15% of those investigated placed into Liuzhi 2023, and 4.33% of those investigated placed into Liuzhi 2024.

  • Of the 889,000 people given disciplinary sanctions of any sort, 17,000 regarded people in the financial sector, 94,000 within State-Owned Enterprises, and 60,000 people within the pharmaceutical sector.

  • The** total number of victims since the system was implemented in 2018 is now likely close to - or slightly above - 200,000**. All are victims of the CCDI’s systematic and widespread use of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and torture (due to the prolonged use of solitary confinement).

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/2078708

The Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide released a report in January 2025, “Eight Years On, China’s Repression of the Uyghurs Remains Dire: How China’s Policies in the Uyghur Region Have and Have Not Changed.” The report is authored by Rian Thum, Senior Lecturer in East Asian History, at the University of Manchester.

[...]

The [new] report finds that, given the available information, all of the policies that led to accusations of mass atrocities in the Uyghur region continue, and some are expanding. These findings should prompt deeper research into the nature of mass atrocities facing the Uyghur population and spark urgent, effective responses. In particular, the report recommends further research into emerging repressive strategies, including the intense network of electronic and human surveillance, curbs on religious practice, and the destruction of cultural heritage.

[...]

A list of boarding schools (pdf) newly built or expanded with new dormitories in 2023 and 2024. The sources are Chinese government construction tenders (formal requests for bids from contractors on a project) and state-approved media, with links to the sources provided in the table. Some of the sites are geolocated by comparison using details from the tender or media sources.

A list of prisons and kanshousuo (pdf), a type of internment facility, that have either been newly built or expanded from 2019 onward. Geolocation (associating names of documented facilities to exact coordinates) is based on the work and available sources on the Xinjiang Victims Database. Expansion and new construction dates are based on data satellite imagery, in most cases from Google Earth.

Using the list of kanshousuo identified by Xinjiang Victims Database from satellite imagery and government documents, this spreadsheet (pdf) provides an estimate of total kanshousuo capacity in Xinjiang at Chinese government standards. Government standards, available at Archive Today, dictate cell capacity of eight or 16 prisoners for the two standard cell sizes. Cell sizes and numbers were identified from the unroofed outdoor section that is mandated for each cell and is visible in satellite imagery. Google Earth and Apple Maps were the sources for satellite imagery.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/30223092

Tibetans have worked to protect the Tibetan language and resisted efforts to enforce Mandarin Chinese. Yet, Tibetan children are losing their language through enrolment in state boarding schools where they are being educated nearly exclusively in Mandarin Chinese. Tibetan is typically only taught a few times a week – not enough to sustain the language.

[...]

[Beijing's] Government policy forces all Tibetans to learn and use Mandarin Chinese. Those who speak only Tibetan have a harder time finding work and are faced with discrimination and even violence from the dominant Han ethnic group.

[...]

Meanwhile, support for Tibetan language education has slowly been whittled away: the government even recently banned students from having private Tibetan lessons or tutors on their school holidays.

Linguistic minorities in Tibet all need to learn and use Mandarin. But many also need to learn Tibetan to communicate with other Tibetans: classmates, teachers, doctors, bureaucrats or bosses.

[...]

The government refuses to provide any opportunities to use and learn minority languages like Manegacha. It also tolerates constant discrimination and violence against Manegacha speakers by other Tibetans.

These [Chinese] assimilationist state policies are causing linguistic diversity across Tibet to collapse. As these minority languages are lost, people’s mental and physical health suffers and their social connections and communal identities are destroyed.

[...]

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/2050069

Here is the article as pdf.

Drawing on the author’s own experience, this paper explores the rarely researched experience of sibling abortion under China’s One-Child Policy [1979 and 2015] through a psychodynamic lens.

The author uses writing as a method of inquiry to delve into the emotional impact of losing a younger brother to abortion due to the One-Child Policy and to dialogue with relevant psychodynamic literature on loss and grief.

The main body of this paper consists of three separate yet interrelated sections.

  • In the first section, drawing on the concept of The Dead Mother, the author explores the possible impact of her mother’s bereavement of a second child on the author’s emotional life in her formative years.

  • The second section draws on psychodynamic literature on melancholia to understand how the lost life of an aborted brother is kept alive in the author’s psyche and the ambivalence this brings to the author’s psychical world.

  • The third section is an analysis of the first two sections, constructing an understanding of the missing psychosocial elements in the first two sections.

This paper gives voice to the longing and mourning brought by sibling abortion under China's One-Child Policy, presenting the author’s process of trying to understand such experiences and attempt to understand the personal and the psychical under the influence of the political.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/30111516

[...]

The punishment had “no place” in the 21st century, [UN human rights chief Volker] Türk, continued, noting that “the top executing countries over recent years" include Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and the United States.

[...]

Latest UN data indicates that in 2023, 1,153 executions took place in 16 countries, representing a 31 per cent increase from 2022 and the highest number in the past eight years.

“That followed a 53 per cent increase in executions between 2021 and 2022,” the High Commissioner said, adding that the figures do not take into account China, “where there is a lack of transparent information and statistics on the death penalty. I call on the Chinese authorities to change this policy and join the trend towards abolition.

[...]

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/2035432

Archived

In the three years since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, more than 20,000 people in Russia have been detained for their anti-war stance, according to figures released by the independent human rights organization OVD-Info.

In 2022 alone, over 18,900 people were detained during public anti-war protests against military actions and mobilization — the mass conscription of men into Russia’s armed forces announced by Vladimir Putin in September that year.

In 2023, Russian security forces detained an additional 274 individuals, followed by 41 more in 2024. Over the same period, there were 856 instances of detentions linked to the public display of anti-war symbols.

Some Russians have been detained multiple times. These include 79-year-old St. Petersburg artist Elena Osipova, who has repeatedly staged solo protests against the war in her hometown.

In certain cases, activists have faced additional pressure from the state following their detention. For example, at the end of 2023, officers from the Center for Combating Extremism (also known as Center “E”) detained activist Dmitry Kuzmin, who had already been expelled twice from university for his anti-war stance. After his arrest, police attempted to serve him a military draft notice while he was in custody at the police station.

[...]

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/2035145

Safeguard Defenders [a NGO focused on human rights in China] is releasing its new handbook ‘Missing in China’ today in response to the growing number of foreign citizens arbitrarily detained in the authoritarian country.

The handbook is a combination of the organization’s extensive research in China’s repressive judicial system and the first-hand experiences of former detainees and their families. It offers readers with crucial insights and practical advice to deal with the detention of a loved one in China and aims to help them become the best possible advocates for their family member.

‘Missing in China’ is available to download here in English, Chinese and Japanese.

It includes information on what to expect from China’s law enforcement and judicial processes, how to retain a lawyer, how your country and consular services can assist, ways to engage with media and other possible allies, as well as other practical information.

While the majority of detentions of foreigners in China go unreported, some of the names that have made the news since 2018 include American Jeff Harper (2020); Australians Yang Hengjun (2019 to present) and Cheng Lei (2020 to 2023); Briton Ian Stones (likely 2018 to 2024); Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor (2018 to 2021); and Japanese Iwatani Nobu (2019).

In recent years, China has amended its counter-espionage and state secrets laws, markedly expanding both the scope of activities considered illegal and the ambiguity surrounding their interpretation. China has used these laws to target more than a dozen Japanese nationals and, for the first time last year, a South Korean worker in the country.

The authoritarian practice of using foreign citizens as bargaining chips in international relations became of such concern that Canada launched the Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations on 15 February 2021. As of February 2025, 80 countries have signed on to the Declaration.

Yet, at the same time, those same nations often fail to provide adequate warnings to their citizens. While China was clearly on their minds when the Declaration against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations was drafted, most of the signatory country’s travel advisories do not reflect such a risk assessment.

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Authoritarian repression of the media is supported by the findings of the 2023 Global Organized Crime Index, which point to a trend of governments suppressing dissent, opposition and media freedom. Of the 12 resilience indicators measured by the Index, the ‘non-state actors’ indicator (which quantifies the role of civil society, including the media, as an alternative source of resilience to organized crime) declined the most globally, by 0.16 points.

In Asia, this indicator not only had the lowest average score of the five continents (3.72 out of 10), but also experienced the largest decline since 2021. Six of the world’s 11 lowest-scoring countries for non-state actors were in Asia, including Afghanistan (1.0), North Korea (1.0), Vietnam and Myanmar (both 1.50). These countries also scored low on ‘government transparency and accountability’.

More surprisingly, Oceania is beginning to show signs of this trend. Although the Oceania countries covered by the Press Freedom Index are all described as having a ‘satisfactory’ press freedom situation, Papua New Guinea was observed to have a ‘problematic’ situation and identified as having the largest decline in Oceania since 2023. Papua New Guinea also ranked highest in Oceania for criminality (5.72) and lowest for overall resilience (3.29) and non-state actors (2.5) under the Organized Crime Index. This suggests that whereas Oceania’s overall criminality score is well below that of all other world regions, media freedom is nevertheless under threat there.

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/2005305

This is an op-ed by Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, and a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley.

As Trump empowers Russia and the far right, he is laying the foundation for undermining democracies around the world.

Since the end of the second world war, liberal democracies have stuck together – led by the US. On the opposite side have been authoritarian states, led mainly by the Soviet Union, followed, after the demise of the Soviet Union, by Russia and China.

But all this is rapidly changing. Russia and China have morphed into oligarchies, run by small groups of extraordinarily wealthy people.

The US has been moving from a democracy to an oligarchy as well – and is doing so at lightning speed under Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

[...]

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/29861224

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), its member organisation Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR), Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), and Global Witness lodged a complaint with the European Commission’s trade department, stating that Hanoi’s ongoing crackdown on human rights defenders working on sustainable development violates the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

In a complaint filed [...] to the European Commission’s Single Entry Point, FIDH, VCHR, CSW, and Global Witness outlined how the Vietnamese government’s systematic suppression of individuals and organisations working on sustainable development violates EVFTA, which came into force in August 2020.

"The government of Vietnam is imprisoning individuals who express legitimate concerns on environmental protection, labour and land rights violations, and the socio-economic impacts of infrastructure and investment projects. This crackdown is unacceptable and also undermines effective monitoring of the EVFTA’s sustainable development clauses", said Gaëlle Dusepulchre, Deputy Director of FIDH’s Business, Human Rights & Environment Desk.

[...]

A feature of modern EU trade agreements, trade and sustainable development chapters require partners to ratify and implement fundamental international labour rights and environmental conventions, and to commit to upholding civil society participation, freedom of association, and access to information.

[...]

"The EU needs to be firmer in insisting that states uphold the commitments and obligations they have made in their trade arrangements with the EU – in the case of Vietnam, this includes those listed in the EVFTA’s Trade and Sustainable Development chapter. Pursuing adherence to these terms is in line with both the interests and the values of the EU, including human rights – at a time when these are gravely under threat", said Jonathan de Leyser, CSW’s Senior EU Advocate.

[...]

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/29448107

Archived

In the beginning of February 2020, Chinese journalist Zhang Zhan heard rumours that an unidentified disease was killing citizens in the city of Wuhan. Despite the risk of contagion, she travelled 850 km to cover the situation on the ground, working in the epicentre of what turned out to be one of the deadliest pandemics in modern history. For this, she was sentenced to four years in prison as the Chinese regime tried to cover up news about the outbreak and their responsibility for the spread of the disease.

Five years later — after completing her first, unjust prison sentence — Zhang Zhan is in detention once again, arrested just a few weeks after sharing information about the harassment of human rights activists on social media. She has now been behind bars since August 2024 and recently started a hunger strike in protest of her mistreatment by the regime. According to RSF information, Zhang Zhan — who was already very weak prior herpast six months of detention — is being force-fed by prison authorities.

...

Throughout her imprisonment, RSF campaigned for her release and warned about the mistreatment she was subjected to in prison. During her early months of detention, Zhang Zhan — laureate of the 2021 RSF Press Freedom Award — nearly died after going on a total hunger strike to protest her mistreatment. Prison officials forcibly fed her through a nasal tube and sometimes left her handcuffed for days.

China, the world’s biggest prison for journalists and press freedom defenders with at least 124 media workers currently behind bars, is ranked 172nd out of 180 countries in the RSF 2024 World Press Freedom Index.

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/1935030

Here is the link to the study.

A quarter of the world’s countries have engaged in transnational repression – targeting political exiles abroad to silence dissent – in the past decade, new research reveals.

The Washington DC-based non-profit organisation Freedom House has documented 1,219 incidents carried out by 48 governments across 103 countries, from 2014 to 2024.

However, a smaller number of countries account for the vast majority of all documented physical attacks on dissidents, with China the most frequent offender, responsible for 272 incidents, or 22% of recorded cases. Russia, Turkey and Egypt also rank among the worst perpetrators.

High-profile incidents of transnational repression include the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by a hit squad at Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has targeted his foes in the UK, including the 2006 radiation poisoning of the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko. This was followed by a string of more than a dozen other suspicious deaths of Russians on British soil that are also suspected of being tied to the Kremlin.

...

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/1928226

Archived

As China aggressively expands its economic footprint across the globe, the recent scandal at BYD's Brazilian factory construction site has exposed the darker side of Chinese overseas investment. The discovery of 163 Chinese workers living in "slavery-like conditions" in Camaçari, Brazil, reveals how China's corporations are exporting not just their products and services, but also their oppressive labor practices beyond their borders. The details that emerged from the Brazilian labor inspector's investigation paint a disturbing picture of systematic exploitation. Workers building BYD's electric vehicle factory were forced to surrender their passports, which is a classic indicator of forced labor and submit to contracts laden with draconian conditions. These included an $890 deposit that could only be retrieved after six months of work, effectively trapping workers in their positions, and arbitrary fines for infractions as minor as walking shirtless or engaging in arguments.

[...]

More revealing still are the discussions that emerged on Chinese social media platform Weibo, where some users noted that the conditions found in Brazil mirror those faced by construction workers within China itself. This acknowledgment hints at how China's domestic labor practices, characterized by the notorious "996" work culture (9 AM to 9 PM, six days a week), are being internationalized through its corporate expansion. The BYD Brazil scandal serves as a warning about the hidden costs of Chinese investment. While countries like Brazil eagerly court Chinese capital as part of their industrialization strategies, they must be vigilant about the potential for labor exploitation. The incident has already prompted Brazilian authorities to suspend temporary work visas for BYD, but more systematic safeguards are needed.

[...]

This case also highlights the tension between economic development and worker rights. The BYD factory, built on the site of a former Ford plant, was supposed to symbolize Brazil's reindustrialization. Instead, it has become a symbol of how Chinese investment can undermine rather than enhance labor standards.

[...]

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/1891393

Archived

Avaaz is backing the call to the UN human rights chief from a coalition of activists fighting for Tibetan rights led by:

  • International Tibet Network
  • Students for a Free Tibet
  • Tibet Action Institute
  • Tibet Justice Center
  • Tibetan Youth Association Europe

Three out of four.

That’s how many children China is forcing into boarding schools in Tibet, where they face abuse and are indoctrinated until they no longer speak the same language as their parents.

Many of these children often spend weeks or even months without seeing their parents, who say they’re simply not allowed to visit. Cut off from home, Tibetan children are only taught Mandarin and the love of the Chinese Communist Party, until their culture and religion is erased.

Now China is trying to cover it up while rooting out Tibetan culture for 1 million children. That’s where we come in.

Reporters just exposed the scandal thanks to brave Tibetan experts and teachers – and a UN investigation could force the truth of China’s indoctrination schools into broad daylight. Tibetan activists want to bring this call to the UN rights chief in days, before he addresses the Human Rights Council – and a big petition will get his attention! Sign and share now.

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Just started reading this book by J. McKenzie Alexander, Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at London School of Economics (LSE), which is free to download as ePub, Mobi, and pdf.


Nearly 80 years ago, Karl Popper gave a spirited philosophical defence of the Open Society in his two-volume work, The Open Society and Its Enemies. In this book, J. McKenzie Alexander argues that a new defence is urgently needed because, in the decades since the end of the Cold War, many of the values of the Open Society have come under threat once again. Populist agendas on both the left and right threaten to undermine fundamental principles that underpin liberal democracies, so that what were previously seen as virtues of the Open Society are now, by many people, seen as vices, dangers, or threats.

The Open Society as an Enemy interrogates four interconnected aspects of the Open Society: cosmopolitanism, transparency, the free exchange of ideas, and communitarianism. Each of these is analysed in depth, drawing out the implications for contemporary social questions such as the free movement of people, the erosion of privacy, no-platforming and the increased political and social polarisation that is fuelled by social media.

In re-examining the consequences for all of us of these attacks on free societies, Alexander calls for resistance to the forces of reaction. But he also calls for the concept of the Open Society to be rehabilitated and advanced. In doing this, he argues, there is an opportunity to re-think the kind of society we want to create, and to ensure it is achievable and sustainable. This forensic defence of the core principles of the Open Society is an essential read for anyone wishing to understand some of the powerful social currents that have engulfed public debates in recent years, and what to do about them.

...

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Ukraine cooperates with the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and other organizations to ensure POWs receive humane treatment in line with international humanitarian standards. Authorities should continue to uphold these protections and undertake not to forcibly repatriate POWs to countries like North Korea, when they face a real risk of serious rights violations. This aligns with the principle of nonrefoulement, which prohibits repatriating individuals to countries where they risk persecution or torture.

Ukraine and governments around the world should ensure these soldiers are informed of their rights, treated with dignity, and protected from forced repatriation if they face serious rights violations, in alignment with the principles of international humanitarian and human rights law.

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For improved longer case history check my profile on Facebook: Chinese herbalist

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Part 2 continued from previous post Prime minister UK Keir Starmer, Mi6 MI5 directors should be jailed sent to prison then hung public execution style for ordering a deportation of me back to UK @keir_starmer @Huffingtonpost @humanrights@lemmy.sdf.org @humanrights@a.gup.pe @EUCommission @commissionerHR @UEfrance @chemistry @organic_chemistry @ChemistryViews @neuroscience @PolicySciences @politicalpsychology @politics @PoliticalScience @politicalscience.social @law @criminology @DU_Soc_Crim @neuroscience@a.gup.pe @mathematics

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Continuation of previous post. Military intelligence 6 and Swedish authorities Covert agenda to try to manufacture a false presentation of malnutrition and anorexia to force psychiatric torture on Lar L Lau @amnestynl @amnesty_digital_de @humanrights@lemmy.sdf.org @humanrights@a.gup.pe @humanrightswatch @AlJazeera@flipboard.com @aljazeera@squeet.me @aljazeerarss @aljazeera_gotgrip @huffingtonpost @TheTelegraph @chemistry @neuroscience @Neuropsyc @barristerabi @lawgrade @commissionerHR @FRA @EUCouncil @EUCommission @Euromove @supremecourt

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