HKFP
The Hong Kong Bar Association has called for increased clarity and narrower definitions in Hong Kong’s own national security legislation to avoid a “chilling effect” on lawful conduct.
Chair of the barristers’ regulatory body Victor Dawes said at a press conference on Thursday that it was of “vital importance” that a “proper and careful” balance be struck between national security, human rights, and the rule of law.
“The imperatives of protecting national security and fundamental rights in Hong Kong can and should be understood and pursued as complementary parts of a single constitutional vision – that of a flourishing One Country, Two Systems,” Dawes said.
A four-week consultation period for the public to respond to the proposed legislation closed on Wednesday, with the Security Bureau saying on Thursday that it had received over 13,000 submissions, almost 99 per cent of which expressed support for the law.
In a 129-page document sent to the government on Wednesday, the Hong Kong Bar Association said it recognised the government may draft the proposed legislation in a way that would allow it to respond with “sufficient flexibility.”
But it added that there was a “countervailing need for the proposed legislation to be drafted in sufficiently prescriptive terms, as the greater the uncertainty surrounding the practical impact of a statute, the more likely it is to have a chilling effect on lawful conduct.”
Hong Kong Bar Association calls for clarity in new security legislation to avoid ‘chilling effect’
