Amnesty International has released its Hong Kong Annual Report reviewing the human rights of Hong Kong over the past year. It states that the city’s human rights situation has rapidly deteriorated in recent times and is at its worst levels since the handover back to Chinese rule in 1997.
“Hong Kong’s legal situation is a cause for concern,” the report said. “Hong Kongers’ human rights situation has violations on almost every front.”
The report cited several issues that happened during the course of the year but also some long lingering ones that have been before the courts over the last 12 months.
“There are escalating cases of violence against reporters and there are very, very confined spaces for press freedom or freedom of expression,” Raees Baig, chairwoman of Amnesty International Hong Kong, said on Wednesday. “If we do not do anything or we do not have any response from the government, we can’t project whether we are going to get worse.”
Self-censorship also became apparent when newcomer broadcaster ViuTV decided not to air an episode of its program that had planned to feature two pro-independence guests. In addition, new media outlets in Hong Kong, especially online-only news portals, are still not recognized by the government , and are refused access to the government press briefings and interviews.
Amnesty also criticized the Hong Kong government and prosecution authorities for the guilty verdicts against the three student leaders of the Umbrella Movement of 2014.
