Christian Bale attended Human Rights First's Human Rights Award Dinner at Pier Sixty in Chelsea Piers in New York City on Wednesday.
According to The Washington Post, Bale was there to present the 2012 Human Rights Award to blind Chinese activist, Chen Guangcheng.
Guangcheng is a lawyer and activist who escaped from house arrest to the U.S. embassy in Beijing and created a diplomatic crisis, as reported by The Washington Post.
"This doesn’t come naturally to me, this is not what I actually enjoy, it isn’t about me. But this was just a situation that said I can’t look the other way. The local people who are standing up to the authorities, who are visiting Chen and his family and getting beaten or detained, I want to support them," Bale said in his speech as quoted by Just Jared.
The Washington Post continued on to say that after his escape to the U.S. embassy, Chen revealed he had documented forced abortions and other types of abuse by the local authorities in Beijing.
He was finally allowed to leave the country with his family and is now studying law at New York University.