Hong Kong Watch launches digital rights report in Washington DC
Yesterday, Hong Kong Watch held our final launch event to highlight our new report, Invisible Decline: Violations of Digital Rights and Their Impact, in Washington, DC.
This event was hosted by the Hudson Institute and featured a panel discussion with Ambassador Derek Mitchell, Hong Kong Watch Patron and Senior Advisor at the Office of the President of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Anouk Wear, Research and Policy Advisor of Hong Kong Watch, Yaqiu Wang, Research Director for China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan at Freedom House, and Joey Siu, Hong Kong activist. The discussion was moderated by Olivia Enos, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute.
After Anouk Wear provided an overview of the report, the panelists discussed the relationship between digital rights and human rights more broadly, the differences between digital rights in Hong Kong and Mainland China, and the role of digital platforms in the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement. Specifically, Joey Siu spoke about how the Hong Kong government uses the National Security Law and Safeguarding National Security Ordinance to persecute activists on the ground in Hong Kong in an attempt to deter “dissent”.
The event concluded with panelists proposing recommendations to the US government and private technology companies. This includes urging Congress to engage with the Hong Kong diaspora to pass concrete policies on digital transnational repression to protect activists in exile; reviewing the regulations technology companies are under in Hong Kong and ensuring they are in compliance with US laws and regulations; and imposing targeted sanctions on the Hong Kong officials responsible for the deterioration of digital rights in Hong Kong.
You can watch a recording of the discussion here.
This event follows successful report launch events in London, Brussels, and Ottawa.
This project is funded by a grant from the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD).
香港監察在華盛頓發布數碼權利報告
香港監察昨天在華盛頓舉行最後一場推廣新報告《隱形衰退：香港數碼權利侵害行為及其影響》（Invisible Decline: Violations of Digital Rights in Hong Kong and their Impact）的發布會。
活動由美國智庫哈德遜研究所（Hudson Institute）主辦，邀請到香港監察贊助人、戰略暨國際研究中心（Center for Strategic and International Studies）總統辦公室資深顧問Ambassador Derek Mitchell、香港監察研究及政策顧問華穆清（Anouk Wear）、自由之家（Freedom House）中港台研究總監王亞秋（Yaqiu Wang）和香港社運人士邵嵐（Joey Siu）展開小組討論。這場討論由哈德遜研究所資深研究員Olivia Enos主持。
華穆清概括報告後，講者更廣泛討論了數碼權利與人權之間的關係、香港與中國大陸數碼權利的差異，以及數碼平台在香港民主運動中的作用。邵嵐特別談到香港政府如何利用《國家安全法》和《維護國家安全條例》迫害香港當地社運人士，企圖阻嚇「異見」。
活動尾聲時，講者向美國政府和私人科技公司提出建議。當中包括促請美國國會與海外港人社群交流，合力通過有關數碼跨國鎮壓的具體政策，從而保護流亡社運人士；審視科技公司在香港所受制的規例，確保有關公司遵守美國法律法規；並點名制裁引致香港數碼權利惡化的香港官員。
請在此處觀看討論錄影。
這個項目由臺灣民主基金會（TFD）資助。