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#Interview #StandNews
#EU ambassador in Hong Kong : Impact of #NationalSecurityLaw ripples beyond political groups to civil rights groups for women and labour

Source: Stand News #Dec10

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#Interview #StandNews
#EU ambassador in Hong Kong : Impact of #NationalSecurityLaw ripples beyond political groups to civil rights groups for women and labour

On the World Human Rights Day (December 10, 2021), Ambassador #ThomasGnocchi, Head of the European Union Office to Hong Kong and Macao, told now-defunct online media outlet, Stand News that many civil rights groups in Hong Kong, which used to have close contact with the office, have been avoiding meetings with them for fear of being accused of "colluding with foreign forces”.

In 2021, many of the civil rights groups in Hong Kong disbanded and some left. Gnocchi admitted that it has become ever more difficult to seek partnership even with non-political groups for advocacy on issues like woman’s rights and labor rights.

We’ve seen, really, our ability to reach out diminished. We’ve had much less contact than we had in the past,” Gnocchi said.

“There are much less stakeholder groups, across political and civil spectrums, that are still willing to meet with us. These groups normally don’t have any national security concerns, but none wants to take any risk,” Gnocchi said many of these groups cited “play it safe” when declining meeting invitation.

Gnocchi indicated that the office is conscious of the situation in Hong Kong and it does not want to put anyone at risk. However, he emphasized that meetings with non-profit organisations are normal diplomatic activities, which shouldn't be restricted.

Having worked in Serbia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kosovo and other places, Gnocchi has witnessed the shrinking spaces in civil society in different places. He believes that the loss of civil society will throw negative impact on the entire country.

“Civil rights group has a vital role to play in raising public awareness [on various societal issues] and holding authorities accountable for their policies.” Not only those civil groups providing food, education, and medicine at the grassroots level should be protected, the authorities should also create space for policy advocacy groups.

Gnocchi stressed that, “in the EU, there are many groups that always criticize us, but their role is important.” He continued saying, “if civil society disappears, you lose one pillar of accountability. I think this is why we are so vocal about the role of civil society. I can only stress how important it is to maintain this space alive.”

Gnocchi acknowledged that he has witnessed many “inevitable changes” after the change in sovereignty in Hong Kong. Taking office after the implementation of National Security Law, Gnocchi regretted seeing growing oppression in this once the world’s freest society.

Continue with Part 2

#InternationalConcern

Source: Stand News #Dec10
#Interview #StandNews
#EU Ambassador to Hong Kong: #NationalSecurityLaw has inhibited specific political rights and civil society in Hong Kong

Source: Stand News #Dec10

Read more
⬇️⬇️⬇️
#Interview #StandNews
#EU Ambassador to Hong Kong: #NationalSecurityLaw has inhibited specific political rights and civil society in Hong Kong

[Editor's notes: On the World Human Rights Day (December 10, 2021), Ambassador #ThomasGnocchi, Head of the European Union Office to Hong Kong and Macao, told now-defunct online media outlet, Stand News that he witnessed many changes in thr city after the change of sovereignty in 1997.]

Read Part 1:
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31885

In January, 2021, the Hong Kong national security bureau arrested #47Democrats over their organisation and participation in a Legislative Council election primaries, which marked one of the largest crackdowns on civil society by the Hong Kong authorities.

Thomas Gnocchi, EU Ambassador to Hong Kong and Macau, said he is aware of the cases linked to national security violations and extended detention period before a trial actually took place.

Although he declined to comment on these on-going cases, Gnocchi reiterated EU’s stance, “the National Security Law has inhibited specific political rights.” “We see some issues are in a way quite problematic,” he added.

When talking about the relationship between Hong Kong government and media, Gnocchi agreed that it has become worrying. He said, “We’ve put forth our concern on this matter to Hong Kong authorities. This is what we can do on our side.”

China has been the EU's largest trading partner since 2020. During the 7-year-long negotiation over the China-EU Comprehensive Investment Agreement, human rights issues in China has always been an obstacle. In May 2021, the European Parliament overwhelmingly passed a freeze on the ratification process of the Agreement, saying that the move is aimed at Beijing's sanctions on EU personnel and Hong Kong, Xinjiang and other human rights issues.

On China-EU political conflicts and economic cooperation, Gnocchi claimed that, “It's a matter of trade-offs.” “For us, we have put forward a wide range of topics for discussion, and we hope that a complete set of topics can be discussed. These issues are all interconnected to us, and you are unlikely to separate them.” Gnocchi said.

On December 10, 2021, the EU made its latest Declaration of Human Rights, stating that it has been strengthening human rights protections around the globe during 2021. For the first time, the EU imposed sanctions on people or regimes involved in serious human rights violations and abuses, including China, North Korea, Libya, South Sudan, Eritrea and Russia.

In 2021-2027, the EU will invest over €1.5 billion in support of development of civil rights groups and human rights groups. The declaration concluded by stating that "the realization of human rights is not only a priority for the dignity of mankind; it is the cornerstone of democracy, peace and security and sustainable development".

Source: Stand News #Dec10
#NeverForget #AntiELAB
2.5 years after
#721YuenLong Mob Attack: Who Owns the Truth Now in 2022 Hong Kong?

January 21, 2022 is the 2.5-year mark of the 7.21 Yuen Long Mob Attack. On July 21, 2019, pro-democracy protesters, train passengers and pedestrians were indiscriminately attacked by white-clad gangsters in Yuen Long. While the Hong Kong police had allegedly turned a blind eye, the question once posed by #RTHK's news program #HongKongConnection resurfaced: in 2022-Hong Kong, who owns the truth?

Watch RTHK's "7.21 Who Owns the Truth?" (English subtitled), courtesy of Real Hong Kong News:
https://youtu.be/4rImPpE3p2U

The news documentary was produced by former RTHK journalist #BaoChoy on the first anniversary of the attack in 2020 and had won accolades including the Press Freedom Award.

Choy examined various video evidence, tracing the attackers to various pro-China groups. She also interviewed one of the victims, who was able to identify his attackers from the surveillance camera footage provided. The victim lamented that he had to identify the suspects before the journalists, since the police did not invite him to take part in any investigation. The victim wonders if the police wanted to investigate at all.

The journalist, moreover, traced the association of some of the attackers to various village representatives in Yuen Long, partly by checking car license plates against the government's vehicle registration database. However, the authorities then arrested and fined Choy for making "false statements" when accessing the public-available database. It was the first time such a charge was laid against journalists using the vehicle database.

The Hong Kong Journalists Association (#HKJA) criticized the move, stating that checking public records had been a common investigative tool in Hong Kong.

In May 2021, RTHK began to take down videos over one year old from their online platforms. This documentary is now no longer available on their official website, as are the programs chronicling the 2019 Anti-ELAB movement.

Meanwhile, the police and state media had made concerted effort to rewrite the Yuen Long attack into a clash between "invading" protesters and those defending Yuen Long. However, another investigative report by Stand News discovered that the alleged call to protest in Yuen Long was likely fabricated, and was ultimately dismissed by discussion forums.

Watch "Tracing the Source - Investigative Report by Stand News" (English subtitled), courtesy of Real Hong Kong News:
https://youtu.be/Gch5ikVyI80

After the implementation of the #NationalSecurityLaw, pro-democracy news outlets, like #AppleDaily and #StandNews, have been pressured into shutting down. Their libraries of articles and videos, including interviews and video footage of 7.21 and many other events during the movement, had gone offline. Though netizens scrambled to back up the data, the records made by these news outlets in Hong Kong cannot be easily accessed by the public, and some may possibly be lost forever.

Two and a half years after the attack, Hongkongers today find very little room to publicly remember the events that transpired. Gatherings that merely hinted at support of the movement are suppressed by police wielding both the anti-gathering rules introduced at the start of the pandemic, as well as the #NationalSecurityLaw.

Meanwhile, the deep rift between the police force and the general public as a result of the 7.21 attack had not been healed, as the Force and its supporters cling to their version of events, which are regularly cited by pro-government and pro-China media.

For now, it is up to individual Hongkongers to investigate, record, document and remember the events they have seen, heard, and experienced during the pro-democracy movements.

Source: RTHK; Stand News

Subtitles by Real Hong Kong News

See also:
"Tracing the Source" - 7.21 Yuen Long Attack Investigative Report by Stand News
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/30599

30 months after, Hongkongers refuse to forget
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31954

#Memory
Half a year after Apple Daily, Stand News also ceased operations as seniors were arrested and materials taken away by the National Security Police

#AppleDaily #StandNews #PressFreedom #NSL #GoHKgraphics
#WhiteTerror #Censorship
Newspaper in Hong Kong States in Editorial: "No Intention to Incite Hatred"

In late December 2021, six former and current senior staff members of Stand News were arrested for "conspiracy to publish a seditious material". The authorities said that it contravened sections 9 and 10 of the Crimes Ordinance.

The former chief-editor Chung Pui-Kuen and the former acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam Shiu-Tung were both detained and denied bail. Stand News immediately announced to cease operation.

On January 6, 2022, #MingPao, a Chinese-language newspaper in Hong Kong, stated in its editorial that the newspaper has no intention to "incite hatred, dissatisfaction, and hostility" and they are only "pointing out the wrongdoings and suggesting a legal improvement to the society".

Following #StandNews, #CitizenNews and other 5 media have been recently closed down.

The chief-writer in Citizen News Chris Yeung Kin-Hing worried about the unpredictable redline. He was not comfortable to be a journalist as any article, report and interview can be classified as incitement.

Chief Executive #CarrieLam, however, claimed that the number of media registered on the information service department has increased in the past year, when she was asked whether press freedom has declined.

"The shut down of the media is their personal choice that we should not directly connect it with #FreedomofPress. The government and the police force only act in accordance with the law."

The editorial posted by Ming Pao reads:

"Criticism in the journal was to point out the mistakes or weaknesses of the related systems, policies or regulations and aim to correct or to eliminate them with legal improvement. There are no hatred, dissatisfaction, or hostility incitement to the government or other social groups."

Source: InMedia #Jan6
https://bit.ly/3JLmArq

#CarrieLam #YeungKinHing #ChungPuiKuen #LamShiuTung #NSL #CrimesOrdinance #PressFreedom #MediaLandscape
#PressFreedom #NationalSecurityLaw
21 nations condemn Hong Kong press freedom crackdown and closure of news outlets

The #MediaFreedomCoalition, 21 countries including the U.S., U.K., Australia, Germany, Canada and Japan said in a statement released by the U.S. State Department on February 8 that they “express their deep concern at the Hong Kong and mainland Chinese authorities’ attacks on freedom of the press and their suppression of independent local media in Hong Kong.”

The statement said authorities have pursued independent media outlets such as the recently closed #StandNews and #CitizenNews since China’s imposition of a national security law, adding these “actions further undermine confidence in Hong Kong’s international reputation.”

Read full Statement
https://www.state.gov/media-freedom-coalition-statement-on-closure-of-media-outlets-in-hong-kong/

Source: Bloomberg; #Feb9
https://www.bloombergquint.com/politics/u-s-led-coalition-slams-attacks-on-hong-kong-press-freedom
#PressFreedom
Hong Kong Police Commissioner: Media cannot claim themselves as not having intention to incite with a disclaimer

Seven #StandNews staff were arrested last year due to conspiracies of publishing seditious material. Stand News had ceased operation on the same day, followed in the following month by a few web-based media.

#Mingpao, a Chinese-language newspaper in Hong Kong, included in its editorial a disclaimer that the newspaper has no intention to incite hatred.

More details on Mingpao's disclaimer
https://t.me/BeWaterHK/16

Raymond Siu Chak-yee, the commissioner of Hong Kong Police, described the disclaimer as meaningless, that it is just for self-hypnosis and narcissism, since claiming in a statement that they did not do said act does not mean they had not done so.

He said in a TV interview that the #BasicLaw protects #PressFreedom, from the past to now, and to the future. He emphasised that their decisions to suspend their operations were their own choices. "No one can say freedom if they go against the law, whether or not their actions has disturbed others."

#NationalSecurityLaw #NSL #PoliceState #Censorship #WhiteTerror #Oppression

Source: Inmedia #Jan29

https://bit.ly/3HSSoJB
#PressFreedom
Pro-democeacy news anchor stumbles in career development in Hong Kong

Young news anchor, Ingrid #TseHingYee worked for three media outlets in three years. Her disrupted career, is a sad reflection of Hong Kong's stifled media and banished press freedom.

Most recently, Tse was seen hosting a press briefing for the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institution.

She thanked her supporters after the briefing, saying that she is pondering possible developments in her career.

Tse joined #AppleDaily in 2021 after resigning from i-Cable in 2019 due to arguments about editorial decisions.

The 25-year-old journalist moved to work in online media Hong Kong #CitizenNews after Apple Daily was folded in June 2021.

In January 2022, Citizen News announced plans to close after some 200 police raided #StandNews, another independent media outlet in Hong Kong, citing concerns about the safety of its staff.

Source: inmediahk; #Feb12
https://bit.ly/3gVtGwl