Hong Kong Watch welcomes publication of NGO submissions in advance of UN Universal Periodic Review

Yesterday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) published NGO submissions in preparation for the upcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of China, which will take place 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 improvement. 

Hong Kong Watch made three joint submissions to the United Nations (UN) UPR of the People’s Republic of China. These focus on human rights violations related to the 2019 pro-democracy protests, the Beijing-imposed National Security Law, civil society, political prisoners, women’s rights, and media freedom. The full submissions are available here. 

On the UN OHCHR website, the Hong Kong Watch submissions are labeled JS19, JS20, and JS34. 

We welcome the fact that the NGO submissions have been uploaded ahead of the UPR process and none were removed, as there had been concerns that there could be a repeat of the incident where NGO submissions were removed at the previous China UPR in 2018. However, we note and raise concern that the UN OHCHR’s conclusion of crimes against humanity in its 2022 report was omitted from the preparatory documents for China’s UPR published in December 2023. 

On 21 December 2023, the OHCHR published the Summary of stakeholders’ submissions on China, the Compilation of information prepared by the OHCHR, and the National report submitted in accordance with Human Rights Council resolutions 5/1 and 16/21. The documents are available for download here. 

In November 2023, Hong Kong Watch’s co-founder and Chief Executive Benedict Rogers addressed the United Nations Pre-Session for the Universal Periodic Review on China in Geneva, calling on Member States to ensure that Hong Kong is highlighted extensively during the UPR in January 2024. More information about the Pre-Session is available here. 

Anouk Wear, Hong Kong Watch Research and Policy Advisor, said:

“We are grateful that the UN OHCHR has published the NGO submissions in advance of the China Universal Periodic Review and that they have included Hong Kong Watch’s three submissions. We welcome the fact that there has not been any interference with our submissions. 

“We look forward to the UPR in January 2024 and urge the UN and its Member States to highlight the human rights violations in Hong Kong and to make recommendations to address these and hold China accountable for its violations of international law. The human rights situation in Hong Kong has rapidly and drastically declined since the last review, which was in 2018, and the PRC has seriously violated many of its international legal obligations, including under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, so for these reasons Hong Kong should be raised extensively by as many Member States as possible during the UPR.” 

中國普遍定期審議本月底舉行 聯合國發布非政府組織報告書 香港監察促請成員國重點關注香港侵犯人權行為

昨天，聯合國人權事務高級專員辦事處（人權高專辦）發布非政府組織所提交文件，為即將於2024年1月23日舉行的中國普遍定期審議（UPR）做準備。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提出改善建議的機制。

香港監察早前向聯合國對中國的普遍定期審議提交三份聯合報告書。報告書重點關注涉及2019年抗爭、《國家安全法》、公民社會、政治犯、婦女權利和媒體自由的侵犯人權行為。完整報告書請見此處。

香港監察報告書在聯合國人權高專辦網站上的標號為JS19、JS20和JS34。

我們歡迎非政府組織報告書在普遍定期審議展開前上載，而且並無任何文件被刪除，因2018年上屆中國普遍定期審議中有非政府組織報告書被刪除，令人擔憂事件或會重演。然而，我們注意到聯合國人權高專辦2022年報告中關於危害人類罪的結論不在2023年12月發布的中國普遍定期審議準備文件之列，對此我們表示關注。

2023年12月21日，人權高專辦發布利益相關者就中國提交的報告書概要、人權高專辦編製的資訊彙編和根據人權理事會第5/1號和第16/21號決議提交的國家報告。有關文件可在此處下載。

2023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。他呼籲成員國在2024年1月普遍定期審議展開期間，確保香港得到廣泛關注。有關會前會議的詳情請見此處。