FEBRUARY 2021 HONG KONG’S NATIONAL SECURITY LAW: A Human Rights and Rule of Law Analysis by Lydia Wong and Thomas E. Kellogg THE NATIONAL SECURITY LAW constitutes one of the greatest threats to human rights and the rule of law in Hong Kong since the 1997 handover. This report was researched and written by Lydia Wong (alias,
[email protected]), research fellow, Georgetown Center for Asian Law; and Thomas E. Kellogg (
[email protected]), executive director, Georgetown Center for Asian Law, and adjunct professor of law, Georgetown University Law Center. (Ms. Wong, a scholar from the PRC, decided to use an alias due to political security concerns.) The authors would like to thank three anonymous reviewers for their comments on the draft report. We also thank Prof. James V. Feinerman for both his substantive inputs on the report, and for his longstanding leadership and guidance of the Center for Asian Law. We would also like to thank the Hong Kongers we interviewed for this report, for sharing their insights on the situation in Hong Kong. All photographs by CLOUD, a Hong Kong-based photographer. Thanks to Kelsey Harrison for administrative and publishing support. Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY i The National Security Law: Undermining the Basic Law, Threatening Human Rights iii Implementation of the NSL iv I INTRODUCTION 1 THE HONG KONG NATIONAL SECURITY LAW: II A HUMAN RIGHTS AND RULE OF LAW ANALYSIS 6 The NSL: Infringing LegCo Authority 9 New NSL Structures: A Threat to Hong Kong’s Autonomy 12 The NSL and the Courts: Judicial