Rights Defence Network (China)
Launched in China in 2005, the Rights Defense Network (wei quan wang, WQW) has been the most active and effective human rights group to operate inside the country ever since. The group, which cannot be legally registered with the government because the government disapproves of it, is composed of activists, lawyers, journalists, writers, dissidents, and labor organizers who maintain loose association in physical space and use the Internet as their main tool for collecting, sharing, and disseminating information, organizing actions, and pursuing advocacy. The Network has played a vital role in monitoring, updating, and providing in-depth analyses of the rights situation inside China. It informs the public inside the country as well as the Chinese-language media overseas and the international community.