Hong Kong Watch Briefing on Human Rights Developments: December 2025

This briefing describes developments in Hong Kong in December 2025 focusing on the rapid deterioration of human rights in the city following the imposition of the National Security Law and the passage of Safeguarding National Security Ordinance.

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Executive Summary

Hong Kong Watch’s December 2025 Human Rights Briefing highlights the continued crackdown on calls for accountability, political participation, and civil society. Following the deadly Tai Po fire, which killed at least 161 people, authorities responded to public calls for accountability with intimidation and prosecutions, targeting journalists, activists, and citizens under national security-related offences. Concern was raised by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights over the use of security laws to suppress peaceful demands for accountability.

The month also saw Hong Kong’s second “patriots only” Legislative Council election, marked by historically second low turnout, a high number of invalid ballots, and the complete exclusion of opposition voices.

Repression intensified further with the conviction of media publisher Jimmy Lai, who now faces a possible life sentence in a case widely condemned as politically motivated and emblematic of the collapse of press freedom.

Shrinking space for student unions, political parties, and cultural expression, alongside an alarming case of transnational repression targeting a Hong Kong exiled activist in the UK, demonstrates the continued consolidation of authoritarian control both within and beyond Hong Kong.

香港監察香港人權狀況簡報：2025年12月

香港人權狀況在《國家安全法》實施及《維護國家安全條例》（俗稱23條）通過後急速惡化，這份簡報記錄了2025年12月香港的事態發展。

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摘要

香港監察《2025年12月香港人權狀況簡報》重點記述港府對問責訴求、政治參與和民間社會的持續鎮壓。大埔致命火災釀成至少161人死亡，公眾呼籲問責，當局卻以恐嚇和檢控回應，指控記者、社運人士和市民干犯國家安全相關罪行。聯合國人權事務高級專員辦事處對當局利用國安法例壓制民間和平要求問責的行為表示憂慮。

香港第二次「愛國者治港」立法會選舉本月舉行，錄得史上第二低投票率，廢票數目更創下歷屆新高，反對派代表亦完全消失。

《蘋果日報》創辦人黎智英被裁定國安及煽動罪名成立，現在可能被判處終身監禁，可見打壓進一步加劇。案件被廣泛譴責為出於政治動機，象徵新聞自由殞落。

香港學生會、政黨和文化表達空間不斷萎縮，海外則發生一宗流亡英國社運人士被跨國鎮壓的驚人事件，顯示威權控制在香港內外持續加強。

Photo: Stand News, Copyrighted free use, via Wikimedia Commons