13th Meeting 61st Session of Human Rights Council UN Web TV
Description
- ITEM 2: General debate (cont’d)
SPEAKERs
Article 19 – International Centre Against Censorship (Joint statement), Mr. Michael Caster
China (Point of order), Mr. Mu Jianfeng
Article 19 – International Centre Against Censorship (Joint statement), Mr. Michael Caster
This is a joint statement, co-sponsored by seven ECOSOC-accredited NGOs.
We thank 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.
Source:
UN WEB TV, 13th Meeting – 61st Session of Human Rights Council, https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1t/k1t5s7yx31.
