In response to the approval of the national security law affecting Hong Kong by China’s Parliament, FORUM-ASIA Executive Director Shamini Darshni Kaliemuthu said:
The approval of China’s national security legislation over Hong Kong today should worry us all, as it poses significant risks to the protection of people’s rights not just in Hong Kong, but across the region.
It shows China’s disregard of the city state’s autonomy and its overreach for authoritarian control over Hong Kong.
A China-sponsored national security legislation in Hong Kong can only dismantle the city’s democracy and increase wide-scale repression against human rights defenders and the civic space, as it has systematically done in China.
The struggle of Hong Kong’s peoples to assert their democratic rights mirrors the struggle of civil society across the region. In Asia, we see how China has propelled authoritarian leaders and how its influence has led to the degradation of fundamental human rights.
Last year’s protests have demonstrated the resilience of Hong Kongers and their refusal to bow down to China’s authoritarianism. FORUM-ASIA as a regional human rights organisation has long championed and facilitated civil society to collectively advocate for fundamental freedoms, in ways that remain peaceful and respects the rule of law.
FORUM-ASIA calls on civil society and the international community to continue to stand in solidarity with Hong Kong, joining their call for the protection of their rights, as they continue to dissent against the China model of national security. We must keep fighting for Hong Kong’s rightful freedoms.
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