Hong Kong stops US head of top rights group

A protester wears a British flag mask during a rally in Hong Kong. Photo / AP

Hong Kong authorities barred the executive director of Human Rights Watch from entering the semiautonomous Chinese territory, where he was to launch a report reviewing human rights practices around the world that focused heavily on the actions of Beijing.

Kenneth Roth was told by immigration authorities when he landed at Hong Kong International Airport that he could not enter the territory.

Roth, an American, had visited Hong Kong numerous times in the past, New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a news release, noting that authorities did not provide a reason for the denial. American visitors are entitled to 90-day visa-free access to Hong Kong.

Roth had planned to launch the group's World Report 2020, which looks at the state of human rights worldwide, in a news conference on Wednesday. The report's lead essay, according to Human Rights Watch, looks at "the Chinese Government's intensifying assault on the international human rights system."

The denial of entry appears to undercut the Hong Kong Government's claim that it upholds free expression and remains committed to its status as one of the freest ports in the world.

"I had hoped to spotlight Beijing's deepening assault on the international efforts to uphold human rights," Roth said in the news release. "The refusal to let me enter Hong Kong vividly illustrates the problem."

Spokespeople for the Hong Kong Government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Human rights groups and others are concerned that Hong Kong's core values, protected under a framework known as "one country, two systems" that Beijing pledged to adhere to when it took over the former British colony in 1997, are quickly being eroded. These include free expression, freedom of the press and other basic rights that make Hong Kong significantly different from mainland China.

I flew to Hong Kong to release @HRW’s new World Report. This year it describes how the Chinese government is undermining the international human rights system. But the authorities just blocked my entrance to Hong Kong, illustrating the worsening problem. https://t.co/GRUaGh8QUb pic.twitter.com/iTHVEXdbwO

— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) January 12, 2020

These fears have been heightened since June, when the Hong Kong Government tried to push through a law allowing extraditions to mainland China, sparking unrest that led to the arrest of about 7000 protesters. The extradition bill has since been withdrawn, but the pro-democracy demonstrations have continued, with a protest on Sunday in central Hong Kong that was attended by a few thousand.

In December, China said it would impose sanctions on US nongovernmental organisations, including Human Rights Watch and the National Endowment for Democracy, for their role in advocating for legislation that supported the protesters. A spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry did not provide details at the time but said these organisations were being punished for their "odious behaviour" in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong and mainland China have entirely separate immigration systems under the "one country, two systems" framework. Roth, in a tweet, said authorities never specified why he was being denied entry despite his probing.

Earlier this month, a US photography professor who has covered the unrest in Hong Kong was denied entry into the territory. Immigration authorities did not specify the reason. In September, an American academic who testified on human rights issues before the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China in Washington was barred.

The Human Rights Watch report also planned to highlight curbs on human rights in Hong Kong. Roth will now launch the report in New York.