• Email the Chinese Embassy

• Send a solidarity message to Yao to let him know the world is fighting for him. In your letters please express your concern for his detention, ill treatment and health as well as reassuring him that international trade unionists and thousands of ordinary citizens are aware of his plight and are demanding his immediate release.

• Send a letter to the prison governor at:

In your letters please state in your own words that:

Yao Fuxin is guilty of nothing more than attempting to peacefully exercise his rights to freedom of expression and association and that he should be released immediately and without restrictions;

That failing release, Yao should be given immediate medical parole to enable him to obtain medical treatment for his illnesses, which included a heart attack in August 2005;

That the health and well being of Yao must be protected from ill treatment and torture and that he must receive immediate and adequate medical treatment.

• Email the Burmese Ministry of Foreign Affairs

In your letters please state in your own words that:

Myo Aung Thant, Executive Officer of the Federation of Trade Unions—Burma, and all other imprisoned labor activists in Burma should be released immediately and without restrictions.

He has been tortured and beaten, and his only crime was fighting for internationally recognized labor rights and worker protections.

The Burmese government has one of the most horrendous labor rights records in the world! Freedom of association, the right to organize, and collective bargaining are met with violent opposition, while forced labor is commonly imposed on citizens.

If the Burmese government is to participate as a member of the international community, it must support trade union rights and democratic freedom in Burma!

• Email President Uribe of Colombia

• Or send a letter to President Uribe at:

In your letters please state in your own words that:

I am writing to protest the ongoing slaughter of Colombian trade unionists. Their only crime is fighting for internationally recognized labor rights and worker protections.

I am outraged that during the year 2004, some 99 trade unionists have been assassinated, and many more have been kidnapped or abducted. The violence against labor activists in Colombia is on the rise at an alarming rate, and MUST STOP NOW!

I urge your government to work harder to protect those who are trying to bring peace to Colombia and prosecute those who commit murder with impunity.

If Colombia is to participate as a responsible member of the international community, it must support trade union rights and democratic freedom there!