As the international community prepares to mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Hong Kong Watch reaffirms the rights and freedoms enshrined within it and calls for the release of political prisoners in Hong Kong.
Human Rights Day on 10 December is also the sixth anniversary of the establishment of Hong Kong Watch, which was launched in Speaker’s House in the UK Parliament in 2017. Over the past six years, Hong Kong Watch has grown considerably, and now works across the world, with advocacy staff in London, Washington, DC and Ottawa as well as regular advocacy engagement with the European Union institutions in Brussels, with policy-makers in Berlin and across Europe, and at the United Nations in Geneva.
To mark these two anniversaries, Hong Kong Watch calls on the international community to demand the release of all political prisoners in Hong Kong. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has concluded that Hong Kong barrister Chow Hang-Tung has been arbitrarily detained and is currently considering the case of pro-democracy entrepreneur and founder of the Apple Daily newspaper, Jimmy Lai. Mr Lai, who marks his 76th birthday today, has been in prison for the past three years on multiple charges and is still awaiting trial under the National Security Law.
Hong Kong Watch’s Patrons, including the last Governor of Hong Kong Lord Patten of Barnes, the former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, Lord Alton of Liverpool, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws, KC, Sir Geoffrey Nice, KC and MPs Fiona Bruce (Conservative), Sarah Champion (Labour) and Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat) have today written to the British Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary to publicly call for the release of Mr Lai, who is a British citizen.
Hong Kong Watch urges the international community to monitor the current and upcoming trials closely, in particular the closing stages of the trial of 47 pro-democracy legislators and activists accused of violating the National Security Law for holding a primary election to choose candidates for the legislature in 2020, and the trial of Stand News editors on colonial-era charges of sedition.
Benedict Rogers, co-founder and Chief Executive of Hong Kong Watch, said:
“While we celebrate the establishment of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 75 years ago, Jimmy Lai’s 76th birthday, and the sixth anniversary of the founding of Hong Kong Watch, we do so with a heavy heart, in the knowledge that human rights in Hong Kong are being severely violated, that hundreds of peaceful former legislators, activists, journalists, lawyers and protesters are wrongfully imprisoned, and that press freedom, civil society space and freedom of expression, association and assembly have been dismantled.
“Over the past six years since we established Hong Kong Watch we have achieved a lot, in particular the establishment of the UK’s British National Overseas (BNO) scheme and the Canadian lifeboat scheme which offer a lifeline to Hong Kongers to build a new life in freedom. However, there is so much more for us to do.
“On this anniversary, we will redouble our efforts to shine a spotlight on Hong Kong and ensure that political prisoners are not forgotten. We call on the British government in particular to demand the release of Jimmy Lai, a British citizen, and we urge all like-minded governments to demand the release of Chow Hang-Tung, whose imprisonment has been described by the UN as arbitrary detention, and all other political prisoners. If the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is to mean anything, it must mean that people should not be jailed for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression, assembly and association or seeking democracy.
“We also take this opportunity to highlight the upcoming Universal Periodic Review of China at the UN Human Rights Council, where we urge UN Member States to make specific recommendations about Hong Kong, to emphasise how much Hong Kong has deteriorated.”
香港監察贊助人，包括前香港總督彭定康勳爵（Lord Patten of Barnes）、前外交大臣聶偉敬爵士（Sir Malcolm Rifkind）、奧爾頓勳爵（Lord Alton of Liverpool）、御用大律師肯尼迪女男爵（Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws）、御用大律師尼斯爵士（Sir Geoffrey Nice）、保守黨國會議員Fiona Bruce、工黨國會議員Sarah Champion和自由民主黨國會議員Alistair Carmichael，同日聯署致函英國首相和外相，要求公開呼籲釋放英國公民黎智英。