On 25 March 2025, Asia Democracy Network and Lady Liberty Hong Kong hosted a webinar on the evolving legal and political landscape in Hong Kong, along with its regional and international implications.
Michael Caster, ARTICLE 19’s Head of Global China Programme discussed the legacy of the 2020 National Security Law (NSL) and 2024 Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, their impact on internet freedom in Hong Kong and how the legislation affects the diaspora. Through extra-territorial application of the law, in particular Article 43 of the NSL, Hong Kong authorities have sought to impose legal and financial penalties on foreign web hosts to block websites of overseas human rights organisations, and in late 2024 moved to shut down the website of an overseas Hong Kong media outlet, Flow HK. Hong Kong has carried out this attack on the freedom of expression in breach of its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
ARTICLE 19 also explored how Hong Kong’s extraterritorial reach under the NSL has taken the form of serious transnational repression. This has included the issuance of international arrest warrants and bounties for 19 overseas Hong Kong activists and the crackdown on Hong Kong related protest around the world, as documented in a forthcoming report from ARTICLE 19.
Watch a recording of our webinar: The Hong Kong 47 and the Erosion of the Rule of Law under the National Security Law
Moderator: Alric Lee, Executive Director, Lady Liberty Hong Kong
Speakers: Maiko Ichihara, Professor, Graduate School of Law, Hitotsubashi University
Joey Siu, Executive Council, World Liberty Congress
Michael Caster, Head of Global China Programme, ARTICLE 19