Jung-hoon Lee

Jung-hoon served as the South Korean government’s inaugural Ambassador for North Korean Human Rights, and South Korea’s former Ambassador for Human Rights. He is currently professor of international relations at Yonsei University in Seoul.

AMBASSADOR DEREK MITCHELL

Ambassador Derek Mitchell is President of the National Democratic Institute. He previously served as US Ambassador to Myanmar (Burma) and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense responsible for Asia-Pacific Affairs under President Obama, and was a Senior Fellow and Director of the Asia Division of the International Security Program at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank. He received the Office of the Secretary of Defense Award for Distinguished Public Service in August 2011.

Former SENATOR JIM MUNSON

Former Senator Jim Munson served in the Canadian Senate from 2003 to 2021, and as Whip of the Senate Liberal Caucus and Former Chair of the Senate Human Rights Committee. He was previously a journalist whose reporting covered events around the globe, including covering the Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing in 1989. He served in the Prime Minister’s Office as a communications advisor and subsequently Director of Communications from 2001-2003. Senator Munson has also devoted his work in the Senate in advocating for the rights of those with disabilities.

Cathay Wagantall MP

Cathay Wagantall was first elected to the Canadian Parliament in 2015, representing Yorkton-Melville. She has been outspoken in her support of the democracy movement in Hong Kong and has worked closely with Hong Kong Watch to advocate for a lifeboat scheme to help Hong Kongers find sanctuary in Canada.

The Honourable LEO HOUSAKOS

The Honourable Leo Housakos has served in the Canadian Senate since 2008, and was Speaker of the Senate in 2015. He is currently a member of several Senate committees and is a tireless advocate of human rights both in the chamber and out.

AMBASSADOR SAM BROWNBACK

Ambassador Sam Brownback served as US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom from 2018-2021, Governor of Kansas from 2011-2018, a United States Senator from 1996-2011 and a member of the United States Congress from 1995-1996. He ran as a candidate for President of the United States in 2008.

HON. IRWIN COTLER

Irwin Cotler served as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada from 2003-2006 and as a Member of Parliament in Canada from 1999-2015. He is the founder and Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. As an international human rights lawyer he served as counsel to many former prisoners of conscience including Nelson Mandela in South Africa and Soviet dissidents Natan Sharansky and Andrei Sakharov, among others. He is the recipient of many international awards and honours in recognition of his human rights advocacy, including his appointment as an Officer of the Order of Canada and Officer of the National Order of Quebec.

Miriam Lexmann MEP

Miriam Lexmann MEP was elected to the European Parliament in 2019 from Slovakia, and serves on the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, as a Co-Chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) and as Co-Chair of the European Parliament’s Hong Kong Watch Friendship Group.

Garnett Genuis MP

Garnett is a Member of the Canadian Parliament and Canada’s Deputy Shadow Minister for Multiculturalism. He is a tireless champion for human rights.

JAMES BEZAN MP

James Bezan MP has served in the Canadian Parliament since 2004 and is currently Shadow Minister for National Defence and Vice Chair of the Standing Committee on National Defence. He was also the parliamentary sponsor of Canada’s Sergei Magnitsky Law.

Melissa Lantsman MP

Melissa Lantsman is Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party in Canada, has served as the Member of Parliament for Thornhill since 2021, and has been a strong supporter of human rights and democracy for Hong Kong.

Frank Müller-Rosentritt MdB

Frank Müller-Rosentritt has been a member of the German Bundestag for the Free Democratic Party (FDP) since 2017. In the Bundestag, Müller-Rosentritt works as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, where he is the FDP's standing rapporteur for China and Asia, covering South Asia, East Asia and Southeast Asia. In the Foreign Affairs Committee, he is also responsible for foreign trade and international financial institutions. Mr. Müller-Rosentritt is Vice Chairman of the ASEAN Parliamentary Group in the German Bundestag and is also involved in the Parliamentary Group for the Pacific. He is an active member of the Hong Kong Friendship Group and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.

Benedict Rogers, Co-founder and Chief executive

Benedict Rogers is the co-founder and Chief Executive of Hong Kong Watch. Ben launched Hong Kong Watch, together with other co-founders, in Speaker’s House in the British Parliament on 10 December 2017, just two months after he was denied entry to Hong Kong on the orders of Beijing, and served as the Chair of Trustees of Hong Kong Watch from 2017-2020. Before joining Hong Kong Watch as the Chief Executive in September 2020, Ben was the East Asia Team Leader at the international human rights organisation CSW, where he specialised in Myanmar, Indonesia, North Korea and China. He is also the co-founder and Deputy Chair of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, a member of the advisory group of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), an advisor to the World Uyghur Congress, Senior Analyst for East Asia at CSW, a trustee of several other charities, author of six books and a regular contributor to international media. He has testified in hearings in the British Parliament, European Parliament, Japanese Parliament and United States Congress and is a regular speaker around the world. Between 1997 and 2002, he lived and worked as a journalist in Hong Kong, and in 2003 he lived and worked in Washington, DC.

Lotte van Buuren, Finance and Operations Manager

Lotte van Buuren is the Finance and Operations Manager of Hong Kong Watch. She has a background in the UK charity sector, having worked at NCVO, Victim Support and Music as Therapy International. Her studies in Global Governance and Ethics and subsequent role at Westminster think tank Civitas spurred her interest in politics and civil society. Lotte is also a Buddhist and yoga teacher.

Katherine Leung, Policy Advisor (Canada)

Katherine Leung is a Policy Advisor of Hong Kong Watch in Canada. She has a background in foreign affairs and previously worked as a parliamentary assistant for a Canadian Member of Parliament who is active on foreign affairs, human rights, and Hong Kong-related issues. She spent her childhood in Hong Kong and now calls Canada home.

Thomas Benson, Research and Policy Advisor

Thomas Benson is a Research and Policy Advisor at Hong Kong Watch. He holds a BA (Hons) in English and a MSc in China Studies. Professionally fluent in Mandarin, he studied Chinese at National Taiwan University / 國立台灣大學. Prior to joining Hong Kong Watch, Thomas worked as a researcher for the Welcoming Committee for Hong Kongers, where he conducted the UK’s largest research survey of BN(O) Hong Kongers and co-authored a major report into their new lives in the UK. Thomas has also held parliamentary and consular roles, and lived previously in Taiwan and Malaysia.

Megan Khoo, Research and Policy Advisor

Megan Khoo is a Research and Policy Advisor at Hong Kong Watch, based in London. Prior to joining Hong Kong Watch, Megan served in communications roles at Hong Kong and foreign policy non-profit organisations in London, and at the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, DC. Megan earned her MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Oxford and holds two BAs in International Studies and Modern Languages (Mandarin Chinese and Spanish) from Georgia Southern University. Megan’s interest in China and Hong Kong-related affairs arose after completing her BA in Modern Languages in Southern China in 2019, where she was part of the underground church network and visited Hong Kong multiple times. 

TED HUI

Ted Hui Chi Fung is a Hong Kong politician in exile, having previously served as a member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council for four years (2016 –2020) and the District Council for ten years (2011 –present). Ted’s areas of focus within the legislature included human rights, administration of justice, constitutional affairs, education and environmental affairs.

Ted studied at the University of Toronto and graduated from the City University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor of Laws (Hon.) degree.

During the 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition movement for freedom, Ted actively participated in the frontline protests as peacemaker, often mediating between riot police and protesters. Having first-hand experience of police brutality and abuses, Ted raised funds from the public and launched private prosecutions and judicial reviews against the police and the Hong Kong government.

In 2020, Ted was arrested and prosecuted for his participation in a protest frontline in 2019. He was then further arrested and prosecuted for his acts of protest and speeches made during parliamentary sessions, with charges such as contempt of legislature and obstructing council security guards.

In December 2020, Ted announced his exile during an official visit in Denmark while on court bail. He subsequently lived in exile in the UK, and then relocated to Australia.

Following the imposition of the National Security Law in Hong Kong in July 2020, Ted has been put on the police wanted list for arrest. Court arrest warrants were also issued against him for absence from trials during his exile. It is anticipated that political charges against him would lead to life imprisonment if Ted returns to Hong Kong.

Ted Hui is one of the initiators of the 2021 Hong Kong Charter. In that historical document, he pledges his life determination to advocate Hong Kong’s freedom and democracy and join hands with the Hong Kong diaspora to revive Hong Kong.

RAY WONG

Ray Wong Toi-yeung is the first activist from Hong Kong granted asylum by a European country. He was the founder of an influential activist group "Hong Kong Indigenous" whose slogan "Liberate Hong Kong Revolution of our times" is one of the most popular slogans throughout the Anti Extradition Law Movement.

LAURA HARTH

Laura Harth is a political activist for human rights and the rule of law with a focus on China. She is Campaign Director at Safeguard Defenders, and holds M.A.s in international law, human rights and international relations. Laura is among the initiators of a campaign for the universal recognition of the right to know. She regularly contributes to Italian news outlets and previously contributed to the English edition of Hong Kong-based Apple Daily.

PETER MATTIS

Peter Mattis is an International Senior Fellow with the International Cyber Policy Centre at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). He joined ASPI from the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) where he served as the Senate-appointed staff director. In addition to his duties with the CECC, he also served as an advisor to Senator Marco Rubio and was a part of the legislative team that passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, and the Tibetan Policy and Support Act. Mr. Mattis previously was a fellow at The Jamestown Foundation, where he also edited the foundation's biweekly China Brief, and at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. He also worked as an analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency. Mr. Mattis has written and spoken widely about the Chinese Communist Party and PRC politics, foreign policy, internal security, intelligence, and political influence activities. He is the author of Analyzing the Chinese Military: A Review Essay and Resource Guide on the People’s Liberation Army (2015) and co-author of Chinese Communist Espionage: An Intelligence Primer (2019).

DIMON LIU

Dimon Liu has been an activist on human rights since 1972.

In 1989, she initiated an intervention at the UN Sub-Commission on Human Rights, which resulted in an unprecedented UN reprimand against China on human rights abuse. This was documented in “Human Rights Exception No Longer” in The Mirror Cracked: China After Tiananmen; published in 1990.

In 1992, Dimon worked on inserting a clause into the United States Hong Kong Act to protect Hong Kong, which was activated with an amendment in 2019.

In 1993, she organized and represented more than 200 Asian NGOs in a speech against the notion of “Asian values” at the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, which protected the concept of the “universality” of human rights.

Dimon initiated the annual People’s Liberation Army Conference at Staunton Hill, Virginia from 1990 to 1998.

Her writings on human rights, the rule of law, democracy, and military strategy have appeared in many publications, including the Asian Wall Street Journal, Newsday, and the Hong Kong Economic Journal. She has written for the Department of Defense, and is the co-editor of the 1996 book, China’s Military Modernization.

Stephen Vines

Stephen Vines, who lived in Hong Kong for 35 years, was a correspondent for several international publications and a regular presenter on Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), and is the author of Defying the Dragon: Hong Kong and the World’s Largest Dictatorship. In 2021 he left Hong Kong after 35 years, due to the crackdown on freedom of expression and press freedom and fears for his own safety.

JOHNNY PATTERSON

Johnny Patterson is the co-founder of Hong Kong Watch and was founding Director of the organisation between 2017 and 2020. He has authored a number of Hong Kong Watch’s in-depth reports, including our research on why Hong Kong matters to China as an international financial hub and our report on the abuse of the Public Order Ordinance. He is a regular commentator on Hong Kong in international media, and has been published in The Spectator, The Independent, TIME, The Financial Times and South China Morning Post.

Sam Goodman

Sam Goodman is the Senior Policy Director at the China Strategic Risks Institute and the Co-chair and Co-founder of the New Diplomacy Project. He previously was the Senior Policy Advisor and the Director of Policy and Advocacy of Hong Kong Watch between 2020 and 2023. Prior to joining Hong Kong Watch, he worked as a political adviser for the Labour Party, a parliamentary aide to several Labour Members of Parliament, and worked in the US House of Representatives for Congressman Bobby L Rush. He is the author of ‘The Imperial Premiership: the role of the modern prime minister in foreign policymaking 1964-2015’.