Hong Kong Watch launches report on Hong Kong’s Patriotic Education reforms in London
Yesterday, Hong Kong Watch launched their latest in-depth research report, Patriotic Education: Learning to love the Hong Kong National Security Law, in the House of Lords in London.
The report, which was co-authored by Hong Kong Watch staff members Thomas Benson, Megan Khoo, and Ray Wong, is a groundbreaking exposé of ‘Patriotic Education’ reforms to the Hong Kong school system. With access to original material from Hong Kong school textbooks and interviews with former Hong Kong teachers, the report exposes in detail how Hong Kong children are now taught in schools about the importance of safeguarding national security and obeying the 2020 National Security Law.
The launch event was hosted by Hong Kong Watch Patron Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle, and featured a wide-ranging discussion on how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has incorporated national security, ethnic assimilation, and ideological compliance into education policy across different minority regions of China.
Thomas Benson, Head of Advocacy and Research at Hong Kong Watch, introduced the findings of the report and offered context on how the CCP has become increasingly reliant on ‘patriotic education’ campaigns to respond to crises of ideological legitimacy since the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, culminating in the 2023 Patriotic Education Law and the 2026 Ethnic Unity and Progress Law.
Kate Saunders, Editorial Director at Tibet Watch, covered recent reforms to the education system in Tibetan schools and increasing pressures on Tibetan language teaching. Rahima Mahmut, Executive Director at Stop Uyghur Genocide, talked about the importance of language and cultural transmission via education, and efforts to limit this in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region under the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law.
Our Patron Lord Alton of Liverpool, former Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, offered commentary on the importance of joint advocacy on behalf of all those affected by repressive CCP policies on freedom of expression, religion, and cultural identity.
Our report will also be launched in Brussels, Ottawa, and Washington, DC, in November. This report launch event was made possible by a grant from the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD).
香港監察在英國國會發布香港愛國教育改革報告
昨天，香港監察在倫敦英國上議院發布最新一份深入研究報告《Patriotic Education: Learning to love the Hong Kong National Security Law》。
報告由香港監察職員湯柏森（Thomas Benson）、Megan Khoo和黃台仰（Ray Wong）共同撰寫，揭露了香港教育制度的愛國教育改革。報告透過查閱香港學校教科書及訪問前香港教師，詳細揭露香港學童如何被教導維護國家安全及遵守2020年《國家安全法》的重要性。
發布會由香港監察贊助人本內特女男爵（Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle）主持，廣泛討論了中國共產黨如何將國家安全、民族同化和意識形態服從融入中國不同少數民族地區的教育政策。
香港監察倡議及研究主管湯柏森介紹報告的研究發現，並說明自1989年天安門廣場屠殺事件後，中共如何愈來愈依賴「愛國教育」運動來回應意識形態合法性危機，最終促成2023年《愛國主義教育法》和2026年《民族團結進步促進法》。
Tibet Watch執行董事Kate Saunders講述西藏學校教育制度的最新改革，以及藏語教學如何面對不斷增加的壓力。Stop Uyghur Genocide執行董事Rahima Mahmut則談到透過教育推動語言及文化傳承的重要性，以及利用《民族團結進步促進法》限制新疆維吾爾自治區推動傳承的行動。
香港監察贊助人、前英國國會人權聯合委員會主席奧爾頓勳爵（Lord Alton of Liverpool）指出，共同為所有受中共壓制言論自由、宗教自由和文化身分的政策影響的人倡議非常重要。
這份報告亦將於11月在布魯塞爾、渥太華和華盛頓發布。這場發布會由臺灣民主基金會（TFD）資助。