Over 85 organisations sign joint statement on the Hong Kong Government’s Consultation for Article 23 Legislation

Today, Hong Kong Watch published a joint statement in response to the Hong Kong Government’s Consultation for Article 23 Legislation. It was written with the support of Human Rights Watch and signed by 86 civil society organisations from around the world. 

The letter condemned the Hong Kong government’s plans to introduce domestic security legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law.

The Hong Kong government formally launched the legislative process with a four-week “public consultation” on 30 January 2024. The law is set to prohibit seven types of offenses, including treason, espionage, and theft of state secrets. Many of these proposed provisions are vague and criminalize people’s peaceful exercises of human rights.

The consultation paper advocates extending police detention without charge, preventing contact between detainees and lawyers of their choice, and for denying those convicted under national security offenses their eligibility to up to a third reduction in their sentences for good behavior. It also advocates, without specifics, for “eliminating certain procedures” to “speed up” national security trials.

The proposed law includes a number of procedural changes that will dramatically undermine the Hong Kong people’s due process and fair trial rights. 

The introduction of Article 23 will bring further devastating consequences for human rights beyond those brought by the National Security Law when it was imposed by Beijing in 2020. These human rights guarantees – long protected in Hong Kong – are enshrined in Hong Kong’s de facto constitution, the Basic Law. 

Civil society organisations urge concerned governments to, individually or together with like-minded allies:

• publicly oppose the introduction of Article 23, and communicate these concerns directly to the Chinese and Hong Kong governments;

• hold Hong Kong officials accountable for the growing human rights violations in the city, by imposing targeted sanctions on officials responsible for introducing Article 23;

• also introduce measures to protect the rights and freedoms of Hong Kong people and activists in exile from Beijing’s long-arm of transnational repression, including taking proactive measures to hold those responsible for intimidating the Hong Kong diaspora abroad;

• and foreign chambers of commerce, and international companies based in the city, to express concerns to the authorities and re-evaluate their business risks and complicity in these human rights violations.

The full letter is available here. 

香港監察聯同逾80個組織發聲明譴責港府擬推行23條立法 促各國政府制裁侵犯人權官員

今天，香港監察發表聯合聲明，回應香港政府展開《基本法》第23條立法公眾諮詢。這份聲明在人權監察（Human Rights Watch）支持下撰寫，並有86個來自世界各地的民間組織簽署。

聲明譴責香港政府擬根據《基本法》第23條，制訂國家安全法律。

港府在2024年1月30日宣布展開為期四星期的「公眾諮詢」，正式啟動立法程序​​。23條旨在禁止叛國、竊取國家機密及間諜行為等七類罪行。其中多項擬議規定含糊不清，並將和平行使人權行為訂為罪行。

聯署組織促請相關政府各自或聯同志同道合的盟友：

• 公開反對推行23條，並直接向中國和香港政府傳達憂慮；

• 制裁負責推行23條的官員，就香港日趨嚴重的侵犯人權行為向香港官員追究責任；

• 採取措施保障香港人和流亡社運人士的權利和自由，免受北京跨國鎮壓的長臂管轄，包括採取積極措施向恐嚇海外港人的人士追究責任；

• 駐港外國商會和國際企業向當局表達憂慮，並重新評估商業風險和參與侵犯人權的行為。

聲明全文可見此處。