Standing up for democracy in Hong Kong

Julie lived in Hong Kong from 1990-92, before the handover from the British to the Chinese government in 1997. She founded the first free Women’s Legal Advice Clinic which continues today.

Julie strongly supports the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong and work to raise awareness in Canada of the curtailment of human rights and freedoms and the persecution of pro-democracy activists.

  • Petition to law societies to censor China’s arrest and restrictions on lawyers in Hong Kong

Proposed resolution on Hong Kong by provincial Law Societies

Arrests under National Security Law in Hong Kong

WHEREAS on 6 January 2021, Chinese security officers detained more than 50 individuals, including elected politicians, political candidates, scholars, lawyers and students for their involvement in an unofficial and non-binding election primary, organised to select pro-democracy candidates for the postponed 2020 election;

WHEREAS their arrest and release without charge (upon surrender of their passports) violates both Hong Kong’s Basic Law and international law;

WHEREAS the Chinese government denied two lawyers representing another group of democracy activists – the Hong Kong 12 – access to their clients in violation of Article 18 of the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, and has reportedly threatened to revoke their licences to practise law;

WHEREAS these and other actions by the Chinese government in Hong Kong since the passage of the National Security Law are eroding basic freedoms and the rule of law in Hong Kong;

WHEREAS the International Bar Association and the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute have condemned the use of the National Security Law in Hong Kong to detain pro-democracy activists and questions the legal premise of the accusations levelled against those detained;

BE IT RESOLVED THAT the (insert name of Law Society) join the IBA and IBAHRI in calling for the Chinese government to uphold the freedoms outlined in Hong Kong’s de facto constitution, the Basic Law, and international law, in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which China has ratified.