Hong Kong in the Hot Seat

The HK delegation answered UNHRC questions via video link

Finally some kind of accountability is taking place -- the United Nations Human Rights Committee began its review of Hong Kong's rights record for the first time since Beijing implemented the national security law in July 2020.

Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai and other senior officials weren't in Geneva but attended the meeting via a video link.

Bulkan asking for reassurance for CSOs

He gave a speech that was just under 20 minutes long, stating the government had done much to protect people's rights in Hong Kong.

"Safeguarding human rights and freedoms is a constitutional duty of the HKSAR government. The government attaches the utmost importance and it is firmly committed to the protection of human rights, which has been upheld firmly and across the board by all our government bureaux and departments," Tsang said.

He even added that Chinese President Xi Jinping said the "one country, two systems" principle is working well and is recognised by 1.4 billion Chinese people and the international community.

The implementation of the national security law and the overhaul of the electoral system, Tsang said, was necessary in the wake of the 2019 protests.

However this reasoning did not go down well with UN committee members.

Chow says no protesters killed

"I note, honourable secretary, your comment about the events that precipitated this law, but I must observe that it was done overnight, without consultation, and bypassing the local legislature," noted Guyanese lawyer and the committee's vice chair Christopher Arif Bulkan.

He asked the Hong Kong officials if civil society organisations (CSO) taking part in this review would be violating the national security law.

"Can you provide assurances that the CSOs who participate here today, and over the next three days, are not in danger of prosecution or victimisation under the NSL, for such engagement?" Bulkan asked.

While the Hong Kong authorities sought to assuage concerns that CSOs would not be targeted under NSL, the committee was not convinced, and again asked for assurances.

Apollonia Liu of the security bureau replied that the NSL does not target "normal interactions" such as participation in this review.

Another vice chair from Japan, Shuichi Furuya, also expressed concerns about the overreaching nature of the law and its broad scope.

He said the committee had received reports from organisations overseas who said they received requests from Hong Kong authorities to remove content that may violate NSL.

Other committee members said the police consistently violated international standards in excessive, indiscriminate response to the protests, to which deputy commissioner of police Joe Chow described them as "riots", and that "certain media" falsely accused the police "to purposely divide society, incite hatred and compromise national security."

"We are extremely restrained in the use of force," he said. "Not a single protester was killed... even under the serious situation. This showed the professionalism of my staff."

Chow added no protesters were killed during the social unrest, and that the police seized Molotov cocktails, and that protesters killed a cleaner with bricks.

Meanwhile questions about NSL cases regarding Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, Chow Hang-tung and Tong Ying-kit were not answered.

Probably the usual excuse of not commenting on individual cases...

But the committee pressed on, reiterating its previous recommendation that Hong Kong should have an independent mechanism to conduct an investigation into police abuses. However, Shirley Yung said the current complaints mechanisms like Complaints Against Police Office and the Independent Police Complaints Council are fair and adequate.

Gaslighting at its finest.

The UNHRC also pointed out how NSL judges threaten judicial independence, but Liu replied that the chief executive does not assign the judge to a particular case so judicial independence is not undermined.

But the chief executive can choose which judges can oversee NSL cases, which pre-determines the result of the case! 

There were also questions about the LeaveHomeSafe app and if it really did collect people's information.

And then, what do you know -- the Hong Kong delegation is having technical difficulties with their video link!

 

Apparently the Hong Kong group was not attending in person because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but perhaps Tsang did not want to risk US sanctions? Or pulling the plug was one of the strategies all along?

In any event, the discussion or rather the grilling continues on Tuesday -- with extra time tacked on because it was suddenly cut short on Thursday.

We'll be watching...