Latest Reports

Anatomy of a Crackdown: The Hong Kong National Security Law and Restrictions on Civil Society

Hong Kong’s once robust and free-wheeling civil society has been fundamentally reshaped by the 2020 National Security Law, according to this latest GCAL report. Based on dozens of interviews with former civil society activists, most of them now overseas, the report is the first to document the ways in which both the NSL and other legal and extra-legal tools have been used to force the closure of over 100 non-governmental organizations and media outlets.

The 74-page report, Anatomy of a Crackdown: The Hong Kong National Security Law and Restrictions on Civil Society, documents the government’s use of both legal and extra-legal tools to pressure activists to end their civil society work. In many cases, the government’s expanding coercive toolkit – including threats, harassment, pressure on employers, blocked access to funding, and warnings from intermediaries – played a more important role than the law itself.

Submission on the Hong Kong Government Public Consultation Document, Safeguarding National Security: Basic Law Article 23 Legislation

February 27, 2024

This submission is an analysis of the Hong Kong government’s public consultation document, Safeguarding National Security: Basic Law Article 23 Legislation. As the analysis makes clear, we find the government’s proposals highly problematic. If new laws are enacted, and existing laws amended, along the lines put forward in the proposal, we believe that the impact on human rights and the rule of law in Hong Kong will be significant. We are also deeply concerned that the business environment will be affected as well.

The government’s sprawling national security proposals, which cover nine chapters and more than 100 pages, would represent a significant expansion of the Hong Kong government’s legal repression toolkit. Many of the proposed new criminal provisions could be used to prosecute the government’s peaceful political critics, including opposition politicians, civil society activists, journalists, and rights lawyers.

The Hong Kong 2019 Protest Movement: A Data Analysis of Arrests and Prosecutions

October 26, 2023

The Hong Kong government has effectively weaponized its legal system to crack down on those who took part in the 2019 protests, according to a new report by the Georgetown Center for Asian Law (GCAL). Based on a large body of data, the report provides an in-depth analysis of hundreds of arrests and prosecutions of the men and women – and in scores of cases, juveniles – who took part in Hong Kong’s historic 2019 pro-democracy protest movement.

The report provides one of the most detailed studies yet published of the criminal prosecutions stemming from the 2019 protests. Drawing on a dataset of nearly 1,600 counts of charge, and encompassing more than 800 criminal cases that were concluded between June 2019 and July 2021, our analysis strongly indicates that the government, aided by an overburdened and politically squeezed judiciary, manipulated the criminal justice process to punish protesters, and to deter any future protests.

Human Rights in Hong Kong: The Impact of National Security Law

July 14, 2023

Submission to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review of China, Fourth Cycle of the UPR, Human Rights Council.

This stakeholder report by the Georgetown Center for Asian Law (GCAL) documents key elements of the dramatic decline in human rights and rule of law in Hong Kong since the implementation of the National Security Law (NSL) on July 1, 2020. All of the developments described in this report took place after China’s 3rd UPR review in November 2018.

This report does not attempt to document the wide-ranging impact of the NSL on all aspects of civic life in Hong Kong. Instead, we focus on three key elements of the NSL: the criminal provisions of the NSL and the sedition provision of the Crimes Ordinance; the NSL’s procedural flaws, which directly contribute to pro-government outcomes; and the law’s extraterritorial reach, as well as recent moves to use the law to target family members of rights activists outside Hong Kong.

Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee on the Review of China's (Hong Kong SAR) Fourth Periodic Report under the ICCPR

May 30, 2022

The submission provides GCAL’s observations and recommendations in light of the application of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (National Security Law, NSL) since July 2020, in relation to Articles 2, 7, 9, 10, 14, 15, 19, 21, 22, 25, and 26 of the ICCPR.

The submission provides information on political and legal developments in Hong Kong, in particular due process rights and the right to a fair trial in NSL cases. Specifically, this briefing covers judicial independence; presumption against bail; the right to trial by jury; the right to legal counsel and self-defense; police investigatory powers; and the crime of sedition as applied to peaceful protesters and peaceful political speech. It focuses on documenting the ways in which national security trials have begun to deviate from standard practice for criminal trials in Hong Kong, in ways that put basic rights at risk.

The Tong Ying-kit NSL Verdict: An International & Comparative Law Analysis

October 20, 2021

The first-ever verdict under Hong Kong’s 2020 National Security Law does not adhere to international law and comparative best practice, according to an analysis published by Georgetown University Law Center’s Center for Asian Law (GCAL). In a decision released in July 2021, Hong Kong’s High Court found pro-democratic protester Tong Ying-kit guilty of inciting secession and terrorism. Tong was later sentenced to 9 years in prison.

The inciting secession charge stemmed from Tong’s use of the now-forbidden protest slogan. Because the government sought to punish Tong for his political speech, the court should have weighed whether such speech is protected under Article 27 of Hong Kong’s Basic Law, which guarantees the right to free expression. The glaring absence of any rights-based analysis in the court’s verdict is striking, and may speak to the political pressure that the courts are facing since the implementation of the NSL in mid-2020.

The inciting secession charge stemmed from Tong’s use of the now-forbidden protest slogan. Because the government sought to punish Tong for his political speech, the court should have weighed whether such speech is protected under Article 27 of Hong Kong’s Basic Law, which guarantees the right to free expression. The glaring absence of any rights-based analysis in the court’s verdict is striking, and may speak to the political pressure that the courts are facing since the implementation of the NSL in mid-2020.

Hong Kong's National Security Law and the Right to Fair Trial: A GCAL Briefing Paper

June 28, 2021

The right to a fair trial for National Security Law (NSL) defendants is under threat. As the first NSL trials begin, defendants have been hampered by restrictions on their core due process rights, including the right to a jury trial and the right to pre-trial release. At the same time, the selection process for judges in NSL cases raises concerns about judicial independence.

The briefing paper offers an in-depth look into the government’s aggressive approach to NSL prosecutions over the past year, documenting extensive efforts to curtail basic due process rights of those accused of NSL crimes. In general, the government has sought to deny bail to most NSL detainees. The government has also asserted a broad power to deny individuals accused of NSL crimes their right to a jury trial.

The briefing paper, also takes an in-depth look at the NSD’s expanded investigatory powers under the NSL. Under brand-new Implementation Rules (IRs) issued just days after the NSL itself went into effect, the NSD has the authority to search the homes of NSL suspects, to tap their phones, freeze their assets, and to censor online speech that they deem a threat to national security. In many cases, no judicial warrant is needed, and external oversight is generally limited.

Hong Kong's National Security Law: A Human Rights and Rule of Law Analysis

February 23, 2021

The National Security Law constitutes one of the greatest threats to human rights and rule of law in Hong Kong since the 1997 handover, according to a new report by the Georgetown Center for Asian Law. The report documents the more than 100 arrests that have taken place since the passage of the law, and urges the government to stop using the NSL in ways that may violate basic human rights.

The report, Hong Kong’s National Security Law: A Human Rights and Rule of Law Analysis, finds that the new law violates both key provisions of the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, and also falls short of international human rights standards. Based on more than 20 interviews with Hong Kong actors and an extensive review of the documentary record, the report concludes that, in several NSL cases, individuals seem to have been arrested merely for exercising their basic rights to free expression, assembly, and association.

Returning to the Shadows: China, Pakistan, and the Fate of CPEC

September 24, 2020

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has been the single highest-profile investment package under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This new report from GCAL and the German Marshall Fund of the United States looks at the evolution of CPEC, from its initial high ambitions to its slowdown to its mini-revival in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. It examines how U.S. and other Western policymakers should respond to CPEC, and to the BRI more generally, and provides insights into how CPEC will shape the future of the Sino-Pakistani relationship.

Promise of Democratization in Hong Kong: Discontent and Rule of Law Challenges

April 23, 2020

Drawing on new data and on-the-ground research, this joint GCAL-National Democratic Institute research report reflects the views of a broad, diverse group of stakeholders in Hong Kong across the political spectrum, from academia and civil society to political parties and the government. Our research makes clear that, nearly a year after protests rocked Hong Kong, there remains an impasse between protesters and leaders in Beijing and Hong Kong.

To bring an end to the political stalemate and social unrest, this new assessment urges the Hong Kong government to immediately open negotiations with representatives from the protest movement. In order for negotiations to succeed, the government must take steps to concretely demonstrate its willingness to compromise. Simply put, the government must prove that it can respond constructively to legitimate concerns raised by different segments of Hong Kong society.