EU monitored 81 court hearings of opposition activists in Hong Kong last year, rights report reveals

In annual report on rights around the world, the bloc raises concerns over national security law and electoral reforms in Hong Kong

Security law has created a ‘chilling effect on the exercise of previously protected rights and freedoms’, it says

Reading Time:4 minutes

The European Union says the national security law has made it difficult for its local office to maintain contact with civil society representatives. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 12:18am, 21 Apr 2022Updated: 8:01pm, 21 Apr 2022

The European Union has revealed it monitored 81 court hearings of opposition activists in Hong Kong last year amid what it characterised as a continuing erosion of democracy and weakening of civil liberties in the financial hub.

The 27-member bloc also stressed that one of its priorities during the past year was to offer “support to civil society, academia and the media” as the government continued its “dismantling of the one country, two systems principle”.

The EU released its “2021 Human Rights and Democracy in the World Country Reports” on Tuesday, with separate sections on mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

In the section on Hong Kong, the EU said 2021 was marked by “severe democratic setbacks” and “increasingly restrictive interpretation and dismantling of the one country, two systems principle”, as it highlighted Beijing-led electoral reforms which the bloc argued further weakened the city’s “already modest democratic elements”.

“Implementation of the [national security law] was more forceful than expected and resulted in the imprisonment or exile of most democratic politicians and the disbandment of numerous civil society organisations,” the report stated.

The bloc said the security law had created a “chilling effect on the exercise of previously protected rights and freedoms”, citing the arrest of journalists and the closure of independent media as examples.

“The EU office and member states represented in Hong Kong monitored 81 court hearings, including the July 2020 primary election case, the major ‘unauthorised assembly’ cases of 2019 and the June 4 candlelight vigil cases of 2020 and 2021,” the report stated.