In an open letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy, ARTICLE 19 has urged the United Kingdom to support the Jimmy Lai Bill, which is due for a second reading before Parliament on 7 March, 2025.
We highlight that, If passed, the Bill will guarantee consular assess for arbitrarily detained British media workers, and will send a resounding message that the UK protects its journalists and citizens who face human rights abuses abroad.
Jimmy Lai, a British citizen and publisher, has been arbitrary detained in Hong Kong since 31 December 2020, and has been denied consular support.
The letter follows.
Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer MP
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London SW1A 2AA
Rt Hon David Lammy MP
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
King Charles Street,
London SW1
We write to you as a global freedom of expression expert organisation at a crucial moment: when the Government can redefine its stance on protecting journalists and citizens abroad in line with the Labour Party’s stated manifesto priorities.
We urge you to support the ‘Jimmy Lai’ Consular Assistance (Journalists) Bill as it approaches its second reading in Parliament on Friday, 7 March 2025, and demonstrate that the United Kingdom stands firmly behind those who risk everything to defend freedom of expression.
At ARTICLE 19, we advance policies and laws to protect journalists and counter the negative human rights effects of authoritarian regimes. We believe that, if passed, the Bill will send a resounding message that the UK protects its journalists and citizens facing arbitrary detention, hostage-taking, and other human rights abuses abroad, even in the face of opposition from authoritarian regimes.
This is particularly critical when it comes to countries like China, where detained foreigners, and especially dual nationals, are routinely denied consular access.
Jimmy Lai, for whom the Bill is aptly named, a British citizen and publisher, has been arbitrary detention in Hong Kong since 31 December 2020. Detained under Hong Kong’s draconian National Security Law (NSL), he faces multiple spurious charges, including for a candlelight vigil marking the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. Despite facing potential life imprisonment under the NSL, he has been routinely denied consular support. And while arguably the most prominent British national arbitrarily detained abroad, Jimmy Lai is not alone in being denied such critical care.
While Chinese authorities are ultimately responsible for refusing him contact with British officials, there is more the United Kingdom can do to increase the chances for those detained abroad to receive vital support and assistance. This is where we believe the Jimmy Lai Bill can make a real difference.
Although the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Consular Charter presently outlines a range of consular services, the United Kingdom does not recognise a legal right to consular assistance for its nationals detained abroad. The ‘Jimmy Lai Bill’ would guarantee a degree of added protection for British media workers arbitrarily detained abroad by enshrining a right to consular access in UK law.
Moreover, with this Bill, the United Kingdom can stand against China’s human rights abuses and the rapid deterioration of human rights in Hong Kong. China has repeatedly breached its obligations under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and we recall the FCDO has pointed to these systematic issues since 2022, noting in June 2024 the growing attempts to apply ever-increasingly repressive laws extra-territorially.
For this reason, we urge you to support the Jimmy Lai Bill as a crucial step in fighting transnational repression and defending democratic values and fulfill your manifesto pledge to support arbitrarily detained British citizens abroad.
Sincerely,
ARTICLE 19