The International Campaign for Tibet expresses solidarity with the people of Hong Kong after the Chinese government imposed a new national security law on them.
China’s passage and immediate implementation of the National Security Law for Hong Kong is yet another indication of its blatant disregard for international norms, as well as the rights of Hong Kongers under the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 and Basic Law of 1997.
Just one day after the law was passed and came into force on July 1, 2020, Hong Kong police already started detaining citizens who were exercising their freedom of expression and assembly, as guaranteed under the Basic Law.
The fact that the law was passed without Hong Kongers having any opportunity to discuss and voice their opinions about it shows the Chinese government has violated the special “One country, two systems” status of the island territory, including the promised “high degree of autonomy.”
The new law is vague and gives China the opportunity to use it arbitrarily to clamp down on Hong Kongers’ fundamental rights by invoking “national security.”
The Chinese government has been using such pretexts for decades in the case of Tibet, stifling all the fundamental rights of the Tibetan people.
ICT calls on the Chinese government and Hong Kong authorities to respect UN standards, as well as international human rights laws, and not use the pretext of “national security” to clamp down on Hong Kong citizens.