No extradition to Hong Kong

Hong Kong Watch is working with the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China to ensure that no one has to face extradition to Hong Kong, where the rule of law is severely compromised following the imposition of the so-called National Security Law.

The National Security Law’s claim to worldwide criminal jurisdiction over overseas activism, its punitive sentencing, and its creation of special bodies and hand-picked judges to prosecute this new array of draconian, vague and broadly-defined crimes, throws into question the independence of Hong Kong’s judiciary, and the state of the rule of law.

Already the campaign has seen success, with Canada, UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, and Germany suspending their extradition treaties with Hong Kong. Ireland, the Netherlands, France, and Finland are reviewing their current treaty.

The Philippines, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Portugal, South Korea, South Africa, and the Czech Republic also have extradition treaties with Hong Kong.

Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne commented that this move would serve to “protect human rights and the rule of law across the world.” Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison said: “We have agreed to announce that that national security law constitutes a fundamental change of circumstances in respect to our extradition agreement with Hong Kong.”

The UK’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab MP stated that the UK “will not consider reactivating those arrangements unless and until there are clear and robust safeguards that can prevent extradition from the UK being misused under the new national security legislation.”

Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Mass said: “The decision by the Hong Kong Government to disqualify 12 opposition candidates and to postpone the elections to the Legislative Council represents a further infringement of the rights of Hong Kong’s citizens. This move comes after the detention of four activists by the newly established National Security Department, which fills us with concern. In view of these latest developments, we have decided to suspend our extradition agreement with Hong Kong.”

Johnny Patterson, Director of Hong Kong Watch says: “The new law opens up the possibility that those extradited will not receive a fair trial or may even be extradited to the mainland. Existing human rights safeguards in current extradition arrangements do not account for the way that the new legislation compromises Hong Kong's independent judiciary.

“There is nothing to stop Beijing insisting the Hong Kong government make a seemingly benign extradition request, and then adding national security charges once people arrive on Chinese territory. In view of this, the only way of guaranteeing the safety of citizens in our respective countries is to stop extradition to Hong Kong immediately.”