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Schona Jolly QC Profile picture
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Jul 1 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
As Hong Kong marks 25 years since the handover from Britain, the rapid & undisguised transformation of Hong Kong just 2 years after the National Security Law was imposed sees the fears confirmed in this piece I wrote in 2020 for @prospect_uk. prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/why-h…
This is an excellent deep dive into how Hong Kong has been transformed by China into a landscape where journalists, lawyers, elected democrats, unions & civil society operate in a climate of fear or are silenced by the State in a harsh crackdown on rights and freedoms.
The pace of change has been sharp. Even as John Lee, former security chief is sworn in as Hong Kong’s new Chief Executive, the crackdown extends in all directions, even on labour rights. Whatever Xi Jinping claims about democracy in #HongKong today, the reality is undisguised.
No hyperbole is needed. Those now running Hong Kong don’t bother to pretend. A senior member of the incoming administration tells @heldavidson dozens of former pro-democracy MPs arrested or jailed over their fight for democracy “have themselves to blame”. theguardian.com/world/2022/jul…
In Jan 2022, barrister-activist Chow Hang-tung was sentenced to 15 months prison for helping to organise an annual Tiananmen Square vigil.

In May, respected barrister Margaret Ng was arrested again alongside other veteran figures in Hong Kong’s democracy movement.

An update 👇🏼
As for #PressFreedom in Hong Kong, it’s been a year since Apple Daily was closed down, journalists & founder #JimmyLai jailed. Stand News was closed 6 months later.

The National Security Law has been used as a tool to silence expression, crush dissent. theguardian.com/global-develop…
This list of those organisations that have disappeared in HK in the 2 years since the National Security Law was imposed speaks for itself.

Saluting the courage of so many, & standing with many friends inside & those forced to be outside Hong Kong today. #StandWithHongKong

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More from @WomaninHavana

Schona Jolly QC Profile picture
Jun 23
Woke up early to read Raab’s Bill of Rights Bill, wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry when I started reading the dangerous tangle of incoherence, like some teenage anti-HRA wish list & then saw @ProfMarkElliott had written a blog. Read it. It’s brilliant.
publiclawforeveryone.com/2022/06/22/the…
One point that really struck me when I read this Bill was on international law.

We don’t seem to have a government that understands its obligations in international law at the moment - see NI Protocol, Rwanda, WTO scandals just from last week.

And now this Bill of Rights Bill.
However much Raab wants to constrain UK courts in their interpretation & application of the ECHR as a matter of domestic law, the UK is still bound by its treaty obligations as a matter of international law. That remains true so long as the UK remains a party to the Convention.
Read 6 tweets
Schona Jolly QC Profile picture
Jun 21
As the Bill of Rights is due to be published, a piece I wrote when the latest #HRA review was announced.

“The championing of parliamentary control sits uncomfortably alongside this government’s consistent attempts to bypass scrutiny and accountability…” prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/a-hum…
A reminder that the govt effectively ignored the IHRAR, the previously commissioned independent review of the #HumanRightsAct, which made clear there was no proper basis for the narrative that judges are out of control, nor that groundless human rights claims are proliferating.
Govt didn’t much like those conclusions & commissioned a new consultation for a Bill of Rights last December.

Some 12,483 individual responses were received in response to the consultation which ended on 7 March. They have not been published by the MoJ. h/t @BIHRhumanrights.
Read 21 tweets
Schona Jolly QC Profile picture
Jun 14
Tonight’s ECtHR intervention is a measure granted only exceptionally where there’s a “real risk of irreversible harm”.

That no removal should take place until 3 weeks after the final domestic decision is the common sense this govt so often mentions in the human rights context.
On a day when the UK Prime Minister’s attacks on lawyers have led the leaders of the profession to issue a strong statement, where Johnson has unleashed at least a question mark over the ECHR itself, this is a confrontation his govt has brought on itself - perhaps foreseeably.
Where culture war meets Brexit goals, this is the day after the govt claims preservation of the Good Friday Agreement forms part of a barely plausible justification for its #NIProtocol Bill.

Meanwhile,the GFA expressly preserves the ECHR, & direct enforceability, as a safeguard.
Read 8 tweets
Schona Jolly QC Profile picture
Jun 12
This powerful piece by @Lees_Martina reconstructs the horrifying tragedy of Grenfell & explains why, 5 years on, 640k people still live in flammable flats & up to 4.2million are trapped in #claddingscandal created by govt failures, corporate wrongdoing & regulatory incompetence.
When you read the painful details of the multiple failures which led to tragedy of Grenfell, & when you have personally experienced the fallout as millions of us have, it’s been very hard to believe that we live in a country, properly regulated, that values people over profits.
I want to thank those journalists who have kept asking questions, supporting Grenfell families who still wait for justice, & those millions trapped in the #claddingscandal. Without you, this would have vanished from public sight, esp @PeteApps @insidehousing @Lees_Martina.
Read 4 tweets
Schona Jolly QC Profile picture
Jun 7
British journalist Dom Philips remains missing in the Amazon following threats. Situation alarming.

@FCDOHumanRights @trussliz @ukinbrazil @mhopkinsfco must work with @jairbolsonaro govt to act urgently now.

Thanks to Brazil & @Everton striker Richarlison for lending his voice.
Part of an important thread which shows why the highest level urgent intervention by the Brazilian authorities is needed. The terrain, the drug trafficking routes & illegal mining make this an operation fraught with danger & difficulty.

Dom Philips & Bruno Pereira need help now.
If you haven’t read any of @domphillips excellent environmental journalism over the last decade or so, this is as good as any to understand his valuable work.

A sobering reminder of the intolerable threats journalists face globally.

Be safe, Dom & Bruno.
theguardian.com/environment/20…
Read 10 tweets
Schona Jolly QC Profile picture
May 28
Away from the lurid images, Johnson’s govt toys with vulnerable lives.

Home Office figures show 24% of asylum seekers making small boat crossings are Afghans.

A @CommonsForeign report this week fiercely criticised govt failures on Afghanistan.

This is how govt responds.#Rwanda
Imagine having faced the unimaginable in Afghanistan last summer, as Britain failed its allies, making it here & being faced with this flimsy document. In English. No translation. Almost no legal help.

Reprehensible cruelty, to make a political point.

Meanwhile, this is the reality on the ground for Afghans - & so many other refugees - stranded in hotels, unable to work or live with dignity.

A reminder that Johnson stood up in Parliament to announce Rwanda policy expressing Britain’s “infinite compassion” for those in need.
Read 4 tweets

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