CIVICUS, a global civil society alliance, calls on the Hong Kong government to halt the continued use of security laws to target activism and create a chilling effect in the territory. More than two years, since the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance (SNSO) was issued, it has been used together with the 2020 National Security Law to arrest and prosecute activists and critics and jail them for long periods.
Most actions, highlighted in a brief published today by the CIVICUS Monitor, contravene the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which is incorporated into Hong Kong’s legal framework via article 39 of the Basic Law and expressed in the 1991 Bill of Rights Ordinance. The ICCPR imposes obligations to respect and protect civic freedoms, including freedoms of association, expression and peaceful assembly. Due to this, the state of civic space in Hong Kong is rated as ‘closed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor.
The SNSO has been used to arrest and charge individuals for their activism including for their social media posts critical of the government. Concerns have been raised about the conditions of political prisoners in jail. There have also been increasing cases of transnational repression, with the Hong Kong government seeking to target human rights defenders in exile and their families at home.
Protests have dwindled following the passage of the security laws and those who commemorated the 1989 Tiananmen massacre are facing charges, including human rights defender Chow Hang-Tung. The laws have also undermined the right to freedom of association with many civil society organisations, political parties, social movements and trade unions disbanding.
"The security laws in Hong Kong has led to the decimation of civil society, jailing of activists and a chilling effect for those who want to speak up. This is why the territory is rated ‘closed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. The government must adhere to their international human rights obligations and reverse course to respect fundamental freedoms, release all activists detained and halt its targeting of activists in exile,” said Josef Benedict, Asia researcher for CIVICUS.
CIVICUS is also alarmed by the efforts to criminalise expression for acts such as singing a protest song, writing on walls, wearing a t-shirt or speaking up around the Wang Fuk Court fire. Hong Kong, once a bastion of press freedom, has also jailed journalists and media owners such as Jimmy Lai. There have been multiple incidents of censorship of books, films, plays, songs and video games.
“The authorities must revise or repeal the security laws to ensure they comply with the government’s commitment to guarantee civic freedoms under the ICCPR. It must also respect the right to protest, protect press freedom and ends all forms of censorship,” added Benedict.
Civic space in Hong Kong is rated closed by the CIVICUS Monitor.
About the CIVICUS Monitor
Over twenty organisations collaborate on the CIVICUS Monitor to provide an evidence base for action to improve civic space on all continents. Civic freedoms in 198 countries and territories are categorised as either ‘closed,’ ‘repressed,’ ‘obstructed ,’ ‘narrowed ’ or ‘open ,’ based on a methodology that combines several data sources on the freedoms of association, peaceful assembly and expression.
