Hong Kong Bar Association chief warns any US sanctions on judges pose ‘real threat’ to judiciary’s hunt for top talent
- Association chair Victor Dawes also urges business communities to promote strengths of city’s legal system to overseas counterparts
- ‘We firmly believe that sanctions by the US government will not actually improve the rule of law and administration of justice in Hong Kong,’ he says
The chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association has warned that any US sanctions against local judges could pose a “real threat” to the city’s legal system and prevent the judiciary from recruiting top talent to combat a manpower shortage.
Senior Counsel Victor Dawes, the organisation’s head, on Monday urged the business community to promote the city’s legal system overseas, saying it enjoyed the support of the central government.
An influential panel of US congressional advisers in May proposed sanctioning 29 Hong Kong judges hand-picked to hear national security cases, claiming such trials had undermined freedoms and democracy in the city.
Dawes said the association firmly believed sanctions by the US government would not actually improve the rule of law and administration of justice in Hong Kong.
“Will our judges and prosecutors be fairer or have more regard to the fundamental rights of the defendant once they are sanctioned? I believe the answer is obvious,” the association chair told a lunch hosted by InterCham, an affiliation of international chambers of commerce in the city.
Members of the city’s judiciary listed as potential targets for US sanctions included top judge Andrew Cheung Kui-nung, as well as Court of Final Appeal justices Roberto Ribeiro, Joseph Fok and Johnson Lam Man-hon.
Dawes warned the judiciary was suffering from a brain drain after three years under the Covid-19 pandemic, with the threat of sanctions likely to have a “decisive impact” on the courts’ ability to bring in top talent.