Advertisement
Opinion | Rampant racism in Hong Kong is why the government’s defence of its human rights record falls flat
- Alice Wu says the UN Human Rights Council rightly took Hong Kong to task over its handling of the advocacy of democracy and autonomy in the city
- For all the attention on these political developments, it is the government’s failure to address the everyday racism here that is most galling
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
It’s no surprise that Hong Kong officials were put on the defence at the UN Human Rights Council hearing in Geneva last week. With all the high-profile reports in the international press on the latest in the city, the council would not be doing its job if it didn’t raise concerns at this five-yearly review of member states’ human rights record.
Advertisement
Five years ago, Hong Kong had yet to experience the Occupy Central pro-democracy protests, the disappearance of booksellers Beijing disapproves of, or popularly elected lawmakers degrade themselves by using a term associated with Imperial Japanese aggression at their oath-taking. The legislators’ antics paved the way for another interpretation of the Basic Law by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, followed by the disqualification of four more lawmakers over their swearing-in, and the banning of the Hong Kong National Party. Let’s not forget also the ill-fated talk by the National Party founder at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, and the subsequent rejection of the application for visa renewal by the British journalist who moderated the talk. And this is not a full list.
So, a lot has happened in the past five years to take us to the day last week when Hong Kong’s situation was singled out for attention during the hearing on China’s report.
And since this city is so obsessed with accolades, we must recognise that this is “a UN first”. Those who fear “mainlandisation” should be popping champagne corks: Hong Kong has been singled out and recognised, this proves we are not just another Chinese city. No fewer than seven country representatives even made use of a portion of their allocated precious 45 seconds to talk about Hong Kong!
Watch: Hong Kong issues unprecedented ban on a political party
Advertisement
Advertisement