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At the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council, a coalition of civil society organisations warned that Hong Kong’s national security framework is being used to intensify repression against independent media, human rights defenders, and critics.
Delivering a joint statement under Item 2 General Debate, NGOs echoed concerns raised by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Treaty Bodies, pointing to a pattern of prosecutions and reprisals that undermine fundamental freedoms and accountability in Hong Kong.
The statement, delivered by ARTICLE 19 on behalf of 14 NGOs, highlighted emblematic cases including the sentencing of media owner Jimmy Lai and the targeting of family members of exiled activists such as Anna Kwok. NGOs called on States to speak out and take concrete action to address both domestic repression and its cross-border impacts.
Full statement below:
Thank you, Mr. President,
This is a joint statement, co-sponsored by eight ECOSOC-accredited NGOs.
ARTICLE 19 thanks the High Commissioner for his global update and his ongoing efforts to address the human rights crisis in Hong Kong.
In 2022, the Human Rights Committee raised its grave concerns and called for the repeal of the National Security Law. In flagrant disregard of the Committee’s concluding observations, the National Security Law – alongside the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance – continues to be weaponised to persecute independent media actors and facilitate transnational repression against overseas Hong Kong human rights defenders and their families.
We welcome and share the High Commissioner’s condemnation of the sentencing of Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison, an effective death sentence for the 78-year-old, along with the parallel sentencing of eight co-defendants to six to ten years, under the National Security Law.
We further condemn the sentencing of Kwok Yin-sang, father of overseas human rights defender Anna Kwok, to eight months in prison under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance. This is an act of transnational repression and reprisal against Anna Kwok’s human rights advocacy abroad, including engagement with UN human rights mechanisms. The targeting of overseas human rights defenders carries overwhelming chilling effects and psychosocial harm, often leading victims to choose between protecting their family or abandoning their work, and is a deliberate strategy to obstruct scrutiny and accountability of domestic human rights violations.
We urge States to speak out against these violations and step up efforts to help ensure the release of all human rights defenders in Hong Kong. We also urge relevant States to take all measures to prevent, investigate, and ensure accountability for all acts of transnational repression on their territory.
Thank you.
This statement is co-sponsored by the following ECOSOC-accredited NGOs:
It is also supported by the following non-ECOSOC-accredited NGOs:
ISHR and Cepaz delivered a statement during the Interactive Dialogue with the Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela at the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council, calling for guarantees of justice, truth and the restoration of rights.
Following the report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders to the Human Rights Council, ISHR commended her work, denounced human rights violations and encouraged the next mandate-holder to continue the effective work of protecting defenders worldwide in collaboration with regional mechanisms.
The Human Rights Council President has proposed that States select Bolaños Vargas as the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders by the end of the body’s ongoing 61st session.
