Scott Greathead
China Labour Bulletin has lost a great friend and colleague. Scott Greathead, a trail-blazing human rights lawyer and advocate for justice around the globe, sadly passed away on 17 August 2024 at the age of 78.
For everyone at CLB who met him, Scott was much more than a work colleague. He was a warm and caring individual, with a boundless curiosity, who will be fondly remembered as part of the CLB family.
CLB’s Executive Director Han Dongfang described Scott as “an older brother.”
“Scott supported my strategy to push China’s current system to deliver its promises to improve the lives of working families in China. He always says to me, ‘I do not trust the communist regime but I trust your judgement and strategy because you know them inside out.’”
“I will miss him dearly.”
Scott Greathead and Han Dongfang in 2023.
In 2007, Scott helped found Friends of China Labour Bulletin (FCLB), a not-for-profit organization that promotes CLB’s work internationally and greatly enhances its ability to support workers in China. Scott served diligently as president of FCLB from its inception right up until the end.
When Han Dongfang visited him in New York, shortly before his death, Scott was still steadfastly committed to the cause of human rights and workers in China. Scott had been concerned about the future of CLB but Han reassured him that the work of CLB would continue despite any difficulties and challenges that might lie ahead.
In addition to founding and leading FCLB, Scott served on the board of Human Rights in China, but his dedication to human rights was far from limited to China. He was a founding board member of several public interest organizations, and much of his five-decade career in the law was focused on Latin America, and in particular helping the victims of the brutal Salvadorian regime in the 1980s. He represented the families of the churchwomen killed by members of the Salvadoran security forces in 1980 and played a key role in pressing for a trial of the culprits. In 1989, he represented the Jesuit Church after six Jesuit priests were murdered by the Salvadoran military.
In 2016, he co-produced an award-winning documentary, Finding Oscar, about his client Oscar Ramirez who, at the age of three, was one of two survivors when his village was destroyed by a Guatemalan military death squad.
Scott wrote extensively about human rights including op-eds in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and his tireless advocacy put pressure on the United States government to reconsider its support for authoritarian regimes in Latin America.
Scott’s unwavering support for social justice and the victims of repression was widely admired, but for his family and friends, he was first and foremost a “loving, generous person with a deep soul and an ironic sense of humour. He had a twinkle in his eyes that was irresistible.”
Scott is survived by daughters Kate, Frances, and Molly, grandchildren Angus and Phoebe, his brother Tim, and his first wife, and lifelong friend Christy Pennoyer. He was predeceased by his second wife of 20 years Juliette Bennett in 2022.
A memorial service will be held in New York on 9 November 2024.