Geneva: Hong Kong is witnessing protests in recent times as China is gearing up to impose its national security law on the city, making the United Nations’ former human rights chief and eight former U.N. special envoys to urge the body’s secretary-general to appoint a special envoy on the region.
The former right's chief has expressed deep concern about a potential “humanitarian tragedy in one of Asia’s freest cities”.
Zeid Raad Al-Hussein, who was the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights during 2014-2018, and the eight former special rapporteurs called for the unusual procedure because of the “severity of the deterioration, the impending grave threats under the new security law, (and) the symbolism that a human rights crisis in what had been one of Asia’s freest cities entails", reports The Geneva Daily.
“We believe there are now very real fears of a human rights and humanitarian tragedy in Hong Kong,” the former U.N. officials’ statement said as reported by The Geneva Daily.
“It is imperative that the international community, and particularly the United Nations and its member states, act urgently to establish a mechanism for observing, monitoring and reporting on the human rights and humanitarian situation in Hong Kong,” it added.
The planned law has sparked protests against the Chinese government and also drawn international condemnation.
Critics say the new law will destroy the freedoms and the special status that Hong Kong enjoys, which are not available in mainland China.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, was handed over to China in 1997, and the Basic Law preserves its autonomy as a Special Administrative Region under the principle of “one country, two systems”.
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