国際人権NGOヒューマンライツ・ナウは、ジュネーブで開催中の第52回国連人権理事会にて、香港における司法の独立性への浸食を批判する口頭声明を発表しました。

2020年6月に国家安全保障法 (NSL) が可決されて以来、NSLに基づいて150人以上が逮捕されており、そのほとんどが表現または集会の目的で逮捕されています。独立した市民社会組織は処罰の脅威の下で解散を強いられ、大勢の弁護士、民主主義を支持する政治家や市民活動家たちが恣意的な逮捕の危機に晒されています。

そして現在、市民的および政治的権利を保護するための最終的な保護機関である司法の独立性も危機に晒されています。声明では、裁判官や弁護士の選出を含む司法への干渉を避け、報道機関、抗議者、市民団体に対する嫌がらせを終わらせるよう香港政府に対して呼びかけています。

人権理事会に提出した同内容の声明全文はこちらからダウンロードいただけます（PDF）

（以下、口頭声明全文）

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Thank you, Mr. President.

Human Rights Now is gravely concerned by the erosion of judicial independence in Hong Kong. For the past two years, the National Security Law and related laws have enabled the government’s crackdown on political dissent, such as the arbitrary arrest of hundreds of activists and journalists, including Jimmy Lai and other independent media staff for normal journalistic activities and the “Hong Kong 47” for their pro-democracy advocacy. Virtually all independent civil society organizations have dissolved under threat of arbitrary punishment, and even work with the United Nations itself was listed as evidence of foreign criminal collusion in one case.

Longstanding fair trial standards have also been arbitrarily denied or threatened under NSL cases, including standards against prolonged detentions, hand-picked judges, extraterritorial application, and the denial of bail, jury trial, and the right to a lawyer of one’s own choosing, inconsistent with the Human Rights Committee’s admonition that courts must not to use different standards of protection in comparable criminal trials without reasonable justification.

It is disconcerting that the institution most entrusted with protecting rights against government assault, the judiciary, has succumbed to political influence and is being weaponized against political opposition. We call on relevant authorities to respect longstanding fair trial standards in all cases and to repeal all laws inconsistent with Hong Kong’s Basic Law and international obligations, including the NSL.

Thank you.

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