United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child must investigate the imprisonment and indoctrination of children in Hong Kong
Today, Hong Kong Watch addressed an online meeting for stakeholders ahead of the 103rd Pre-Sessional Working Group of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on China, presenting evidence of the detention, mistreatment and ideological education of children in Hong Kong under the National Security Law. The meeting forms part of the Committee’s preparations for its review of China’s compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
During the meeting, our Policy Director Megan Khoo set out how, since the National Security Law took effect in 2020, more than 10,000 people have been imprisoned on protest-related charges, including children. In December 2025, a sixteen-year-old boy was sentenced to forty-two months in prison for attending online meetings and sharing social media posts. The court rejected his age and his autism as grounds for leniency, despite the UN Human Rights Office reminding Hong Kong that Article 37 of the Convention requires child imprisonment to be a last resort.
Mrs Khoo also highlighted conditions inside juvenile facilities. A September 2025 report by the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation documents systemic abuse, including beatings, extortion and sexual assault by inmates given privileges by guards. The department that runs the prisons controls the complaints process, those who complain describe retaliation, and no independent international body can currently inspect these facilities.
Beyond the prison walls, national security education is compulsory from the age of six. Books have been stripped from libraries, including 146 titles on Tiananmen Square and the 2019 protests, and a record seventy-one teachers were disqualified in 2024 over lesson content.
Mrs Khoo stressed that these are not isolated incidents but a pattern of violations engaging Articles 3, 13, 17, 19, 37 and 40 of the Convention, and put forward two asks to the Committee:
Disaggregated data: Request data on every person under eighteen detained on national security grounds, so the scale of child imprisonment can be understood.
Independent monitoring: Recommend that independent monitors be granted access to Hong Kong’s juvenile facilities, given credible allegations of abuse and the absence of any independent complaints mechanism.
Hong Kong Watch urges the Committee to raise these issues directly with the Chinese authorities during its review.
Mrs Khoo’s testimony was preceded by a written submission, which you can read in full here.
Megan Khoo, Policy Director of Hong Kong Watch, said:
“Children in Hong Kong are being imprisoned for what they say online and taught what they may not think. A sixteen-year-old with autism was jailed for forty-two months for attending online meetings and sharing posts, and the court dismissed his age and his condition as irrelevant. This is not an isolated case. It is a pattern that runs from the courtroom to the cell to the classroom. The Committee has both the mandate and the opportunity to demand transparency and independent oversight, and we urge it to use them.”
香港監察向聯合國兒童權利委員會作供 促調查香港兒童被監禁及灌輸思想情況
聯合國兒童權利委員會正舉行第103屆會前工作小組會議，準備審議中國遵守《兒童權利公約》（《公約》）的情況。香港監察今日在相關持份者網上會議上發言，提出香港兒童在《國家安全法》下被拘留、虐待和接受意識形態教育的證據。
會議期間，香港監察政策總監Megan Khoo指出，自《國安法》於2020年生效以來，已有超過一萬人因與抗爭運動相關的控罪而被監禁，當中包括兒童。2025年12月，一名16歲少年因參加網上會議和分享社交媒體帖文而被判處42個月監禁。雖然聯合國人權辦曾提醒香港當局，《公約》第37條規定監禁兒童僅應作為最後手段，但法庭仍不接納以年齡和自閉症為減刑理由。
Megan亦提請關注少年懲教設施的內部狀況。香港自由委員會基金會（Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation）於2025年9月發表的報告記錄了系統式虐待行為，包括囚犯獲獄警給予特權施行毆打、勒索和性侵犯。管理監獄的部門控制着投訴過程，投訴人反映受到報復，而目前沒有任何獨立國際機構能夠檢查這些設施。
在監獄高牆外，學童由六歲起必須接受國家安全教育。公共圖書館將大量書籍下架，當中包括146本有關天安門廣場和2019年抗爭運動的讀物。2024年創紀錄地有71名教師因課堂內容而被取消教師註冊資格。
Megan強調以上所述並非個別事件，而是涉及《公約》第3、13、17、19、37和40條的違規行為模式，並向委員會提出兩項要求：
分類數據：要求提供因國家安全理由而被拘留的18歲以下人士人數，藉以了解監禁兒童的規模。
獨立監察：鑒於存在可信的虐待指控並缺乏任何獨立投訴機制，建議容許獨立監察機構檢查香港少年懲教設施。
香港監察促請委員會在審議期間直接向中國當局提出這些議題。
香港監察在Megan作供前已提交書面意見書，全文可在此處閱覽。
香港監察政策總監Megan Khoo表示：
「香港兒童因在網上發表言論而被監禁，並被灌輸未必屬於他們的想法。一名患自閉症的16歲少年因參加網上會議和分享帖文而被判監42個月，法庭認定他的年齡和健康狀況與案情無關。這並非個別事件，而是貫穿法庭、監獄以至課室的行為模式。委員會既有授權也有機會要求提高透明度和設立獨立監督機制，我們促請委員會加以運用。」