國際特赦組織今年關閉香港辦事處

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

Amnesty International to close Hong Kong offices this year

Mon., October 25, 2021, 8:15 p.m.

HONG KONG (AP) — The human rights group Amnesty International said it will close its two offices in Hong Kong this year, becoming the latest non-governmental organization to cease operations amid a crackdown on political dissent in the city.

The group said its local office in Hong Kong will close this month and its regional office will close by the end of the year, with operations moved to other offices in the Asia-Pacific region, the organization said in a statement Monday.

“This decision, made with a heavy heart, has been driven by Hong Kong’s national security law, which has made it effectively impossible for human rights organizations in Hong Kong to work freely and without fear of serious reprisals from the government,” Anjhula Mya Singh Bais, chair of Amnesty International’s board, said in a statement.

Mainland China imposed a sweeping National Security Law in Hong Kong in 2020 following months of massive anti-government protests. The law outlaws secession, subversion of state power, terrorism and foreign collusion to intervene in the city’s affairs. More than 120 people, many of them supporters of the city's democracy movement, have been arrested under the law.

The majority of the city's prominent pro-democracy activists have been arrested for taking part in unauthorized assemblies, and dozens of political organizations and trade unions have ceased operation out of concern for their members' safety under the security law.

Bais said the recent targeting of local human rights and trade union groups signaled that authorities are intensifying their campaign to rid the city of dissenting voices. “It is increasingly difficult for us to keep operating in such an unstable environment,” she said.

In a June report, Georgetown University’s Center for Asian Law said the National Security Law mirrored legislation in mainland China that tightly restricts contacts between local and international non-governmental organizations and threatens activists with imprisonment for allegedly colluding with foreign forces.

“It’s disturbing — and contrary to international law — to see Hong Kong’s ‘national security’ law similarly strangle civil society and free speech in the territory,” said Sophie Richardson, China director at non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch.

“The degree of surveillance and the National Security Law's vague prohibitions makes contact between Hong Kong people and those outside the territory potentially subject to prosecution, such that information-sharing is impeded,” she said.

Critics in Hong Kong say the National Security Law erodes freedoms, such as those of expression and assembly, that were promised to the city for 50 years when the former British colony was handed over to China in 1997.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said that under the city's Basic Law, the freedoms of association, assembly and speech are “guaranteed.”

“No organization should be worried about legitimate operations in Hong Kong,” said Lam during a regular news conference Tuesday. “But it has to be done in accordance with the law.”

 

Zen Soo, The Associated Press

Translation

香港（美聯社）- 人權組織國際特赦組織表示，今年將關閉其在香港的兩個辦事處，成為在該市正在鎮壓政治異見人士之中, 最新一個去停止運作的非政府組織。

該組織週一在一份聲明中表示，該集團在香港的當地辦事處將於本月關閉，其地區辦事處將於年底關閉，業務將轉移到亞太地區的其他辦事處。

國際特赦組織董事會主席Anjhula Mya Singh Bais在一份聲明中說：“這個決定是在沉重的心情下做出的，是受到香港國家安全法的驅使，它使香港的人權組織自由工作實際上不可能不擔心政府嚴重報復。”

在經歷了數月的大規模反政府抗議活動後，中國大陸於 2020 年在香港實施了全面的《國家安全法》。法律禁止分裂國家、顛覆國家政權、恐怖主義和外國勾結干涉城市事務。 120 多人已被依法逮捕，其中許多人是該市民主運動的支持者。

該市大多數著名的民主活動人士, 因參加未經授權的集會而被捕。在安全法之下, 數十個政治組織和工會出於對其成員安全的擔憂而停止運作。

Bais說，當局最近對當地人權和工會組織的針對, 表明當局正在加緊開展運動，以消除這座城市的反對聲音。她說: “我們越來越難在如此不穩定的環境中繼續運營” 。

喬治城大學亞洲法律中心在 6 月份的一份報告中表示，《國家安全法》類似中國大陸的立法，嚴格限製本地組織和國際非政府組織之間的聯繫，並用入獄威脅涉嫌與外國勢力勾結的活動人士。

非政府組織人權觀察中國部主任Sophie Richardson說：“看到香港的‘國家安全’法同樣扼殺了香港的公民社會和言論自由，這令人不安，而且違反國際法。”

她說：“監控的程度和國家安全法的模糊禁令，使港人與境外人士接觸可能受到起訴，從而阻礙信息共享。”

香港的批評者說，《國家安全法》侵蝕了中國對香港在 1997 年英國把殖民地移交給中國時, 給香港50 年言論和集會自由等承諾。

香港特首林鄭月娥表示，根據香港《基本法》，結社、集會和言論自由是“得到保障的”。

林在周二的例行新聞發布會上說:“任何組織都不應該擔心在香港的合法運營”; “但運營必須依法進行” 。

              So, the human rights group Amnesty International will close its two offices in Hong Kong this year. The National Security Law in Hong Kong mirrors legislations in mainland China that tightly restrict contacts between local and international non-governmental organizations. The internationality of Hong Kong is shrinking.