Amnesty International to close its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong

HONG KONG - Human rights advocacy group Amnesty International plans to close its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Beijing by the end of the year due to constraints on its operations from the national security law imposed on the city last year by Hong Kong.

Research, advocacy and campaigning work will move to other offices in the region, a step that will affect about 30 staff members. Human rights education and local fundraising work is to come to an end by Sunday.

Hong Kong has long been an ideal regional base for international civil society organizations, but the recent targeting of local human rights and trade union groups signals an intensification of the authorities' campaign to rid the city of all dissenting voices, Anjhula Mya Singh Bais, chair of Amnesty International Board, said in a statement. It is increasingly difficult for us to keep operating in such an unstable environment. Since the imposition of the security law, the authorities have launched a broad crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong, jailing dozens of activists and opposition politicians, removing library books and ratcheting up pressure on critical civic groups.

More than 60 such organizations, including political parties, the city's largest trade union and a group advocating on behalf of Chinese human rights lawyers have disbanded in recent months. Leaders of a group focused on memorializing the 1989 Tiananmen massacre face prosecution for inciting subversion and refusing to cooperate with a police probe.

Amnesty has not been publicly singled out in recent months, but local officials and Beijing have previously condemned critical reports issued by the group. Its departure will leave the group without any presence on Chinese soil for the first time in over 40 years.

Hong Kong, with its autonomy and freedom of expression guaranteed under the basic law, the city's constitution, has historically been an attractive hub and haven for regional rights groups conducting China-related work, drawing Amnesty to set up its regional hub in 1976.

Its Hong Kong chapter, which is registered as a charity, has operated since 1982, campaigning for LGBT, refugee and migrant rights and providing human rights education programs to schools. The Hong Kong branch of British school Harrow International last year halted use of Amnesty's materials, citing parental complaints.

Article 54 of the national security law, which directs local authorities to strengthen the management of and services of NGOs, effectively mirrors Chinese legislation that gave Beijing enhanced powers to restrict the operations of foreign groups there in 2017.

Hong Kong-based Amnesty vowed to continue its work on China and Asia despite its departure from London.

While leaving the city that we have called home for decades is devastating, we do so proud of our achievements over that time and confident that the strength of Amnesty's 10 million-plus supporters worldwide will enable us to continue our work together to end human rights abuses everywhere, said Agnes Callamard, the group's secretary-general.