National security law: Amnesty International to close its 2 Hong Kong offices by year’s end, citing impediments to its work

Amnesty, which established its presence in the city in 1990, said its office focusing on Hong Kong affairs would shut on October 31, while another dealing with regional affairs would close by the end of the year. The regional operations will be taken over by other offices in Asia-Pacific, with Taiwan, Seoul and Tokyo among the locations being discussed. The organisation already has offices in Bangkok and Colombo.

“This decision, made with a heavy heart, has been driven by Hong Kong’s national security law, which has made it effectively impossible for human rights organisations in Hong Kong to work freely and without fear of serious reprisals from the government,” said Anjhula Mya Singh Bais, chair of Amnesty’s international board.

A Security Bureau spokesman said the national security law upheld human rights and stipulated the freedoms enjoyed by residents under the Basic Law and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights were protected by law.

Law enforcement actions were based on evidence and had “nothing to do” with “political stance, background or occupation”, he said.

Speaking to the Post from London, deputy secretary general Kyle Ward said that while no direct threat had been made against the Amnesty offices in Hong Kong, the pace at which civil society organisations had been disbanding and the arrest of some of those groups’ leaders had prompted the “difficult” decision to leave the city.

“The noose seems to be tightening a bit closer on civil society overall and therefore it behoved us to make a move before we ended up with someone in prison,” he said.

Ward said another sign that continuing operations in the city was becoming “increasingly untenable” emerged last month when the financial services minister announced charities deemed a threat to national security would lose their tax exempt status.