Courtesy of Amnesty Hong Kong
Amnesty International, a global human rights organization, has decided to close its Hong Kong branch, which has been operating for 40 years, due to the Hong Kong National Security Law.
Amnesty International released data on the 25th and said it would “close its two offices in Hong Kong by the end of this year.” Among the two offices, the regional section office will be closed on the 31st of this month, and the regional office part of the Amnesty International Office will close later this year and move to another area.
Amnesty International determined that normal human rights protection activities have become difficult due to the Hong Kong security law, which took effect in July last year. Anhula Miya Singh, Vice President of Amnesty International’s Board of Directors, said: “This decision was taken with a very heavy heart and is due to the Hong Kong Security Law. done,” he said. According to Hong Kong’s security law, there are four crimes punishable by up to life in prison: division of the state, overthrow of the state government, terrorist activity and collusion with foreign powers.
Amnesty International Hong Kong was with us at every turning point in the improvement of human rights in Hong Kong. He abolished the death penalty in Hong Kong in 1993 and uncovered excessive use of force by the police in large-scale protests against extradition laws in 2019. Last year, the Chinese government detained 12 Hong Kong activists, depriving them of the right to a fair trial and criticizing them for abuse. “Amnesty International Hong Kong has become a ray of light in the darkest times of human rights violations in Hong Kong,” said Agnes Calamar, Amnesty Secretary-General.
A year after the enactment of the Hong Kong Security Law, the pan-democratic civil society organization in Hong Kong is rapidly disintegrating. The Hong Kong Vocational Teachers’ Union, the largest single union in Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Workers’ Association, a symbol of the Hong Kong democracy movement, were disbanded in August. The Hong Kong Citizens’ Association (Jiryeonhoe) supporting the Patriotic Movement, which held an annual June 4 candlelight vigil to commemorate the Tiananmen Movement, was also disbanded last month. Recently, the 50-year-old Chinese University of Hong Kong student union was closed.
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