Hong Kong Watch Patrons urge UK Foreign Secretary to include Hong Kong on the agenda at the upcoming UN UPR on China

Today, Hong Kong Watch Patrons Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Rifkind KC, Sir Geoffrey Nice KC, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws KC, Lord Alton of Liverpool and Alistair Carmichael MP have written to British Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron, urging him to ensure that the UK Mission to the United Nations (UN) raises the human rights situation in Hong Kong in their recommendations at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on China, including Hong Kong, at the UN in Geneva on 23 January 2024.

The UPR is a UN review process which every member state is required to go through every four to five years, and is a mechanism to ensure scrutiny of every country’s human rights record and recommendations for compliance with international human rights law.

The key recommendations the UK Mission to the UN should propose to the UN to recommend to China at the UPR in order to highlight the ongoing deterioration of the rule of law in Hong Kong include: 

  • Repeal and refrain from applying the National Security Law (NSL) as well as the sedition law in Hong Kong.

  • End the arbitrary detention of Hong Kong lawyer Chow Hang-tung, release Jimmy Lai, and all other political prisoners.

  • Stop eroding the judicial independence and the rule of law in Hong Kong.

  • Withdraw the arrest warrants with HK$1 million (£102,173) bounties against 13 peaceful, exiled Hong Kong activists, six of which now live in the UK, and cease the harassment of their relatives and friends in Hong Kong and others in the Hong Kong diaspora.

  • Ensure that trade unions can carry out their legitimate functions and exercise their rights.

  • Take urgent steps to ensure people in Hong Kong are able to exercise their right of peaceful assembly without fear.

  • Address the excessive force used by the Hong Kong Police Force in the 2019 protests and ensure that the use of force by law enforcement agencies is fully compliant with UN Human Rights Guidance on Less-Lethal Weapons in Law Enforcement and Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.

In November, Hong Kong Watch’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Benedict Rogers addressed the United Nations Pre-Session for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on China in Geneva. Mr Rogers said, “As this UPR focuses on human rights in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) since 2018, we urge member states to highlight the drastic human rights violations in Hong Kong in this time period. Although many regions of the PRC face very serious human rights violations, Hong Kong has undergone the most dramatic changes in this period, shifting from one of Asia’s most open cities to a police state. It is therefore vital that member states make recommendations to the PRC that include Hong Kong during this UPR.” He also highlighted the Hong Kong government’s plans to introduce a further security law by invoking Article 23 of Hong Kong’s Basic Law.

The UPR on China follows yet another instance of the Hong Kong authorities’ violating international law and engaging in transnational repression through the issuing of five more arrest warrants with HK$1 million bounties (£101,118) bounties for five overseas Hong Kongers who now live and advocate for democracy in the US and UK. UN Member States, particularly the UK where six of the 13 total Hong Kongers with arrest warrants and bounties reside, must stand up for the UK’s domestic rights and freedoms and ensure these individuals as well as other Hong Kong, Uyghur, Tibetan and Chinese dissidents are protected.

The United Nations has repeatedly called for the repeal and suspension of the National Security Law, including at the review of Hong Kong’s ICCPR obligations, where the UN Human Rights Committee was “deeply concerned about the overly broad interpretation” of the National Security Law and recommended that the HKSAR repeal the law and refrain from applying it in the meantime; at the CESCR review which concluded that the National Security Law “has de facto abolished the independence of the judiciary” and raised concerns about independence of the judiciary, the right to fair trial, academic freedom and artistic freedom; and the CEDAW review which raised concerns about “over-prioritizing public order and security concerns when considering restrictions on democratic manifestations” which violate women’s rights.

Benedict Rogers, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Watch, said:

“Britain continues to have a special responsibility to Hong Kong under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which is a UN-registered treaty. The UK Mission to the UN must make it clear that the human rights situation in Hong Kong is deteriorating most rapidly, impacting over 1,000 political prisoners, including British citizen Jimmy Lai, and more than 191,000 Hong Kongers who have relocated to the UK under the British National (Overseas) visa scheme. The UK should lead the way among UN Member States to press the UN to recommend that China repeal the National Security Law, release all political prisoners, and withdraw the 13 arrest warrants and bounties to defend the freedom of Hong Kongers in Hong Kong and around the world.”

香港監察贊助人聯署致函英國外相 促請在聯合國對中國普遍定期審議中關注香港人權狀況

今天，香港監察贊助人聶偉敬爵士（Sir Malcolm Rifkind）、尼斯爵士（Sir Geoffrey Nice）、肯尼迪女男爵（Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws）、奧爾頓勳爵（Lord Alton of Liverpool）和國會議員Alistair Carmichael MP聯署致函英國外交、聯邦及發展事務大臣甘民樂勳爵（Lord David Cameron），促請他確保英國駐聯合國代表團於2024年1月23日在日內瓦出席聯合國對中國的普遍定期審議（UPR）時針對香港人權狀況提出建議。

普遍定期審議是聯合國的審議程序，要求各成員國每四至五年接受審議，是審議各國人權紀錄並就遵守國際人權法提出建議的機制。

為突顯香港法治持續惡化的情況，英國駐聯合國代表團應建議聯合國在普遍定期審議中，向中國提出下列關鍵建議：

  • 廢除及切勿採用香港《國家安全法》及煽動叛亂法；

  • 停止任意拘留香港律師鄒幸彤，釋放黎智英及所有其他政治犯；

  • 停止破壞香港司法獨立和法治；

  • 撤銷向13名流亡海外的和平香港社運人士發出的每人100萬港元懸紅通緝令（其中六人現居英國），並停止騷擾他們在香港的親友及其他海外香港人；

  • 確保工會能夠履行合法職能並行使權利；

  • 採取緊急措施，確保香港人能夠免於恐懼地行使和平集會權利；

  • 處理香港警隊在2019年抗爭中過度使用武力的問題，並確保執法機關所使用的武力完全符合《聯合國關於在執法中使用低致命性武器的人權指南》和《執法人員使用武力和火器的基本原則》下的規定。

今年11月，香港監察共同創辦人兼行政總監羅傑斯（Benedict Rogers）到訪日內瓦，在聯合國對中國的普遍定期審議會前會議上發言。羅傑斯表示：「鑒於今次普遍定期審議聚焦中國2018年以來的人權狀況，我們促請成員國重點關注這段時期香港發生的嚴重侵犯人權行為。雖然中國許多地區都發生非常嚴重的侵犯人權行為，但香港在這段時期經歷了最劇烈的變化，從亞洲最開放的城市之一變成警察城市。因此，成員國在普遍定期審議期間向中國提出涵蓋香港的建議極為重要。」他同時提請關注香港政府計劃借助《基本法》第23條立法，加辣國安法一事。

香港監察共同創辦人兼行政總監羅傑斯表示：

「英國繼續對香港負有《中英聯合聲明》所規定的特殊責任，該聲明是在聯合國註冊的條約。英國駐聯合國代表團必須明確表示，香港人權狀況正急劇惡化，影響過千名政治犯，包括英國公民黎智英，以及超過191,000名以BN(O)簽證計劃移居英國的香港人。英國應帶頭在聯合國成員國中向聯合國施壓，建議中國廢除《國家安全法》、釋放所有政治犯、撤回13項懸紅通緝令，從而捍衛香港以至世界各地香港人的自由。」

NewsMegan KhooPoliticalPrisoners, UK, Letter, UN