Six civil society organizations, including the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China and the Civil Human Rights Front, are concerned that the Hong Kong government is using the national security law to restrict the entry and exit of Hong Kong people. (Photo: Cheng Ming)
After pushing the national security law, the Hong Kong government will further amend the law to restrict the entry and exit of Hong Kong people. Several civil society organizations held a joint press conference on Thursday (22) to express concern about the relevant regulations disguised as “locking up” Hong Kong, saying that once the regulations are passed, Hong Kong people’s freedom of entry and exit will be on par with mainland China.
The Hong Kong Legislative Council will resume the second reading of the Immigration (Amendment) Bill 2020 on April 28, and with the support of pro-establishment lawmakers, the bill is likely to be passed on the third reading on the same day. Once passed, the Bill will come into effect on August 1.
The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China and the Civil Human Rights Front are among the six civil society organizations that held a joint press conference at 7 p.m. on Thursday (22), and the officer of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, Mr. Tang Kin-wah, is concerned about the consequences of the rapid passage of the Bill: “We think this Bill has the chance to turn Hong Kong into a lock-up in disguise. Under this Bill, the Secretary for Security has the power to empower the Director of Immigration to direct that a conveyance may or may not carry a passenger or a crew member of that conveyance. In other words, the biggest problem with the Bill itself is that the Director of Immigration will have the power to prohibit Hong Kong people from boarding and leaving or entering Hong Kong, which will seriously affect Hong Kong residents’ right to travel to and from Hong Kong, including travel, study abroad, and even immigration.”
He said that, as the Hong Kong Bar Association is concerned, the questionable provisions give the Director of Immigration apparently unfettered power to restrict Hong Kong residents and other people to travel to Hong Kong; and the amendment provisions do not specify the grounds under which such power can be exercised, nor explain the need for empowerment, which is disturbing.
The Vice-Chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (HKASPDMC), Zou Xingtong, said that the HKASPDMC has always paid less attention to local legal affairs in Hong Kong, but this time it hopes to see the adverse effects of such arbitrary restrictions on people’s right to enter and leave the country from various acts of persecution in the past, such as such restrictions on entry and exit often occur in mainland human rights defenders and lawyers, such as the recent Guo Feixiong is an example: “He just He wanted to visit the United States to see his wife for the last time, but when he arrived at the airport, he was not allowed to leave the country, and he could not even go on a hunger strike at the airport, he was taken away. This restriction on entry and exit is not limited to some well-known people, many people across the mainland have experienced such treatment, including some ethnic minorities, etc.”
She said bluntly that she did not want the same to happen in Hong Kong: “We really don’t want Hong Kong to become a prison like this, to become a place where we have absolutely no control over our lives, control over our future, control over our travel.”
In addition, the Hong Kong Public Relations and Communications Industry Employees General Union, the Hong Kong Insurance Employees Union and the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions have set up street stalls in various districts over the past week to explain to the people of Hong Kong the problems of this “lock-up” ordinance.
The Hong Kong Bar Association, which has twice submitted comments on this bill, issued another statement on February 16, saying that even considering the general nature of the legislation, the Bill should be amended to clearly stipulate that the Secretary should only be empowered to prohibit specific persons from boarding means of transport for inbound flights, not departing flights, in order to reflect its limited proposed scope of application.
The Bar Association made a submission on the Bill in early February, saying it was concerned that the amendment would restrict Hong Kong people and others from leaving Hong Kong, stressing that Hong Kong people’s freedom of entry and exit is protected by the Basic Law and that holders of valid travel documents are free to leave the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region without special permission unless restrained by law.
The only remaining pro-establishment faction in the Hong Kong Legislative Council, earlier Elizabeth Quat and Ho Kwan-yiu for the amendment of the law to open the way, including two times on the grounds of epidemic vetoed the convening of public hearings, and blocked the Legislative Council Legal Adviser to the Security Bureau questions.
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