Hong Kong Watch launches religious freedom report in the Parliament of Canada in Ottawa

On Tuesday 21 November, Hong Kong Watch launched our new report, “Sell Out My Soul”: The Impending Threats to Freedom of Religion or Belief in Hong Kong, at an event in the Parliament of Canada in Ottawa last night, hosted by one of our Canadian Patrons, Garnett Genuis MP.

Our co-founder and Chief Executive Benedict Rogers introduced the report and the insidious ways in which freedom of religion or belief is being compromised and restricted in Hong Kong, at an event attended by several Members of Parliament, including another of our Patrons, James Bezan MP, Greg McLean MP, Shuvaloy Majumdar MP, Arnold Viersen MP and Liberal MP John McKay.

Former Canadian Ambassador to China David Mulroney, who served in Beijing from 2009-2012 and previously headed Canada’s office in Taiwan, endorsed the report, describing it as “a clear, compelling, and carefully researched report on the extent to which the Chinese Communist Party, which has steadily wrapped Hong Kong in its coils, has now begun to devour religious freedom in the territory”.

Mr Mulroney, who had also served as Canada’s Senior Official for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Associate Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister’s Personal Representative to the G8 Summit, as well as Foreign and Defence Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister, added that the “extensively researched report” bases its projections “on a careful cataloguing of what Beijing has done before, what it’s doing now, and what it’s signalling that it intends to do next.”

He added: “This is an unflinching exercise in reading the signs of the times. And the signs are worrying. Just as it crushed religious freedom on the mainland, China, as the report makes very clear, has now commenced its assault on those same freedoms in Hong Kong.”

Mr Mulroney called on the government of Canada to “be monitoring, reporting on, and engaging in advocacy on behalf of religious freedom in Hong Kong.”

Dr Charles Burton, Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and a former Canadian diplomat in China, said that “for the authorities in Beijing the international openness of Hong Kong is seen as threatening collusion with foreign forces.” He raised key questions including “Will the Catholic Church in Hong Kong be merged into Beijing’s Catholic Patriotic Association and forced to cut links with the Vatican? Will the Protestant churches be merged into the post-denominational China Christian Council and forced to disconnect from their multinational councils and synods?” and concluded: “The future of religion in Hong Kong is not looking bright right now.”

Dolkun Isa, President of the World Uyghur Congress, spoke of the religious persecution of the Uyghur Muslim population and what Hong Kong could learn from their experience, and called on Hong Kongers, Tibetans and Uyghurs, as well as Christians in mainland China, to work more closely together and unite in solidarity in the face of Chinese Communist Party repression.

The launch in Ottawa follows previous launch events at the European Parliament in Brussels and in Washington, DC earlier this month. A final launch will be held in the Houses of Parliament in London, hosted by Hong Kong Watch Patron Lord Alton of Liverpool, on 30 November.

This project is funded by a grant from the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD).

香港監察赴渥太華加拿大國會發布香港宗教自由報告

週二（21日），香港監察在渥太華加拿大國會發布新報告《出賣我靈：香港宗教或信仰自由即將面臨的威脅》（Sell Out My Soul: The Impending Threats to Freedom of Religion or Belief in Hong Kong），發布會由香港監察贊助人、加拿大國會議員Garnett Genuis MP主持。

香港監察共同創辦人兼行政總監羅傑斯（Benedict Rogers）在會上介紹報告，並談論暗中損害及限制香港宗教或信仰自由的方​​式。與會者包括多名國會議員：香港監察贊助人James Bezan MP、Greg McLean MP、Shuvaloy Majumdar MP、Arnold Viersen MP和自由黨John McKay MP。

發布會講者有前加拿大駐華大使馬大維（David Mulroney）、麥當諾勞雷爾研究院（Macdonald-Laurier Institute）資深研究員兼前加拿大駐華外交官Charles Burton和世界維吾爾代表大會（World Uyghur Congress）主席Dolkun Isa。

香港監察本月稍早在布魯塞爾歐洲議會和華盛頓特區舉辦多場發布會，隨後便是這場渥太華發布會。最後一場發布會將於11月30日在倫敦英國國會舉行，由香港監察贊助人奧爾頓勳爵（Lord Alton of Liverpool）主持。