Hong Kong Watch campaigns with Canadian Senators and Members of Parliament to call on Canada to impose Magnitsky Sanctions

In the last few weeks Hong Kong Watch has been working with stakeholders in the Canadian Parliament to call on the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, to impose targeted Magnitsky sanctions on the perpetrators of human rights abuses in Hong Kong and China.

This includes circulating a list identifying key Hong Kong and Chinese officials where there is substantial evidence of their participation in human rights abuses within the territory, and requesting that they be subject to personal sanctions under the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act.

These names and the list formed the basis of a letter sent by 13 Canadian Senators to the Prime Minister on 23rd June calling on Canada to impose sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials for "gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms."

In the letter addressed to Justin Trudeau jointly written by Conservative Sens. Thanh Hai Ngo and Leo Housakos and co-signed by 11 others, the parliamentarians called on the Canadian Government to take a stand against China.

The Senators outlined that China's Hong Kong policy and the enactment of the National Security Law is a clear violation of its international obligations under the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, which guaranteed a "one country, two systems" framework following the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China.

"Canada, as a member state of the UN, along with the international community, has an interest and a responsibility to defend the international rules-based order," the Senators letter to the Prime Minister concluded.

The text of the letter can be found here: https://twitter.com/SenatorHousakos/status/1275814597283504128?s=20