Our Campaigns

Letters

Hong Kong Watch and our Patrons, parliamentary allies and fellow civil society groups regularly send letters to government officials and businesses around the world to further our campaigns and defend the fundamental freedoms of Hong Kongers in Hong Kong and abroad.

Read our letters here.

International Lifeboat campaign

We are calling on democratic partners who have pledged their support for Hong Kong and raised concern over the 2020 National Security Law and 2024 Safeguarding National Security Ordinance to offer an insurance policy to Hong Kongers by offering a lifeboat scheme.

A number of international governments have stepped up: the UK government has offered a pathway to citizenship for BNOs, the Canadian government has developed a young talent scheme, the Australian government has offered a pathway to citizenship for students, and the US government has offered Temporary Protected Status to Hong Kongers in the US. But there is more work to do.

Read more on the International Lifeboat campaign here.

Read more on the BNO policy here.

Business and Human Rights campaign

In March 2021, Hong Kong Watch published a new report entitled: ‘Red Capital in Hong Kong: The Invisible Hand transforming the city’s politics.’ Following the release of the report, Hong Kong Watch has tracked and researched the growing rise of Western investment in ‘Red Capital’ and campaigns for greater transparency and debate around Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance influencing investments into China, increased weighting for human rights within Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance frameworks which influence global investments, and the introduction of regulation that will ensure no state-pension funds invest in stocks or bonds of Chinese companies complicit in gross human rights violations in Hong Kong and mainland China.

Read more on the Business and Human Rights campaign here.

Sanctions campaign

As a response to the rapidly deteriorating situation in Hong Kong, we launched this campaign in 2019 to ask governments to introduce targeted sanctions against officials in the Chinese Communist Party, Hong Kong Government, Hong Kong Police Force, and the Chinese security apparatus who violate human rights in Hong Kong, particularly under the Hong Kong National Security Law.

Read more on the Sanctions campaign here.

EU-China campaign

Since the Summer of 2020, Hong Kong Watch has been campaigning against the adoption and ratification of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, arguing that it would reward China with favoured access to European markets at a time when it is dismantling Hong Kong’s autonomy, violating international treaties, and undertaking gross human rights violations within its borders. We have also been calling for the EU to step up to help Hong Kongers through lifeboat measures, sanctions, and suspending their extradition treaties with Hong Kong.

Read more on the EU-China campaign here.

United Nations campaign

From the United Nations Secretary General through to the General Assembly or the Human Rights Council. There is more that could be done at the United Nations in order to strengthen the response to the deteriorating situation in Hong Kong.

The importance of mobilising action at the United Nations lies in the fact that the United Nations continues to carry significant soft power and moral force. Human rights lawyers at the United Nations are recognised as the leading experts worldwide. The events in Hong Kong must not be normalised as acceptable, and it is critical that global experts continue to underline where the Hong Kong government and Beijing are in breach of their international human rights commitments. Beijing spends millions on influence at the United Nations, it is time for democratic allies to counteract these influence strategies by ploughing in resources themselves. 

Read more on the United Nations campaign here.

Free Political Prisoners campaign

A mass purge of Hong Kong’s democrats and protestors is under way. The National Security Law is being used to lock up and silence Hong Kong’s opposition. With thousands arrested under protest-related charges, we have been monitoring the developments, and are calling for the Hong Kong Government to Free All Political Prisoners.

Under the ‘Political Prisoners’ tab of our website, we include a database of political prisoners, profiles of democrats facing charges, and a rolling list of upcoming court dates.

Read more on the Free Political Prisoners campaign here.