Hong Kong residents safer and better protected now city has national security law, minister tells UN officials
- Security minister John Lee addresses side event webinar of United Nations Human Rights Council
- Lee says Beijing had to act to fill vacuum left after 1997 handover and residents’ rights and freedoms are guaranteed under legislation
Hong Kong residents enjoy “extra protection” from violence under the national security law and their rights and freedoms remain intact, the city’s security minister told UN officials on Monday.
John Lee Ka-chiu defended the controversial legislation at a side event webinar at the ongoing session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, and said the Chinese government had no choice but to close the “vacuum” created after Hong Kong failed to pass its own legislation as required by the Basic Law since the 1997 handover.
The security law was imposed on the city by Beijing last year after months of often violent anti-government protests, which began in June 2019.
“The effect of the law is obvious and direct,” Lee said. “Violence has dropped significantly. Advocacy of Hong Kong independence subsided. People arrested for offences in public order incidents have dropped by 50 per cent in five months.
“Stability and order have been restored. People have returned to their normal life. Business has returned to normal, and the economy has begun to recover.”
He cited the security legislation and said the half of the first chapter emphasised protection of rights and freedoms.