Hong Kong Watch to appoint Benedict Rogers as Chief Executive in September 2020

Hong Kong Watch is delighted to announce the appointment of Benedict Rogers as the organisation’s Chief Executive, and Gray Sergeant as the new Chair of Trustees.

Benedict Rogers, who co-founded Hong Kong Watch and has served as Chair since its launch in December 2017, will take up the new role of Chief Executive on 28 September. Johnny Patterson, Hong Kong Watch’s Director, will become Director of Policy and Research.

Former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, a Patron of Hong Kong Watch, said: “Benedict Rogers was one of the founders of Hong Kong Watch and has been its very successful Chairman. He is the best person possible to become its full time Chief Executive during the period that the people of Hong Kong will face the greatest threat to their liberty and their future as free citizens. Hong Kong Watch ensures that the United Kingdom and the international community are aware of what is happening in Hong Kong and that the Hong Kongers are never alone. Ben as Chief Executive of Hong Kong Watch will be one of their leading champions.”

Lord Alton of Liverpool, a Patron of Hong Kong Watch, said: “The appointment of Benedict Rogers as Chief Executive is an important milestone in the development of Hong Kong Watch. It has been remarkable to see Hong Kong Watch grow from a small group of committed volunteers, worried about threats to Hong Kong’s democratic way of life, into a professional, highly effective, formidable organisation, and, with great dedication, ensuring that the world’s eyes remain focused on Hong Kong. As the scale of the threat emerged, Ben saw the need to create Hong Kong Watch. There is no one better qualified to ensure that it remains true to its mandate and, for as long as it takes, to give voice to Hong Kong’s people and to defend their freedoms.”

Benedict Rogers said: “It is a great privilege to take up this new full-time role. Since I began my advocacy for Hong Kong six years ago, and especially in the past three years since we founded Hong Kong Watch, Hong Kong has become an increasingly important concern for me personally. Until now I have tried to provide a voice for Hong Kong in my spare time, while continuing my full-time work on human rights in other parts of Asia, but as the crisis in Hong Kong has escalated it has become clear to me that it requires my full-time attention.“

“As it becomes more dangerous for people in the city to speak out to the world themselves, due to the national security law, people like me outside Hong Kong need to increase our efforts to speak out.  I will  continue to support other human rights causes with which I have long been involved, while now having the privilege of leading our remarkable Hong Kong Watch staff team in ensuring that Hong Kong has a voice to the world for as long as it needs it. I pay tribute to all my colleagues, especially Hong Kong Watch’s Director Johnny Patterson, our trustees and Fellows, and I look forward enormously to continuing to work with them in this new role.”

Mr Rogers launched Hong Kong Watch, together with other co-founders, in Speaker’s House in the British Parliament in Westminster on 10 December 2017, just two months after he was denied entry to Hong Kong on the orders of Beijing.

Mr Rogers is currently East Asia Team Leader at the international human rights organisation CSW, where he specializes in Myanmar, Indonesia, North Korea and China, and he will retain a part-time research and ambassadorial role with CSW after he takes up his new role with Hong Kong Watch. He is also co-founder and Deputy Chair of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, a member of the advisory group of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), an advisor to the World Uyghur Congress, author of six books and a regular contributor to international media. 

Gray Sergeant, a co-founder of Hong Kong Watch who has served as a trustee since 2017. said: “Over the past few years Hong Kong Watch has gone from strength to strength in direct response to Beijing’s trashing of the Joint Declaration. With freedoms in Hong Kong facing a threat today greater than any other time since 1997 it is vital the international community takes notice. It is an honour to take on the role as Chair of Hong Kong Watch. As an organisation we will continue to ensure governments across the world speak out and act against the erosion of the city’s autonomy.”