The National Security Law (NSL) constitutes one of the greatest threats to human rights and the rule of law in Hong Kong since the 1997 handover. This report analyzes the key elements of the NSL, and attempts to gauge the new law’s impact on human rights and the rule of law in Hong Kong. The report also analyzes the first six months of implementation of the new law, seeking to understand how the law is being used, who is being targeted, and which behaviors are being criminalized. The report is based on interviews with Hong Kong actors from various backgrounds, and also a wide-ranging review of the public record, including press reports, court documents, and other publicly-available sources.
Lydia Wong is the pen name of a political science scholar and former rights activist from China. Currently based in the U.S., she has written widely on human rights movements in China, Chinese law...
Thomas Kellogg is Executive Director of Georgetown Center for Asian Law. Prior to this position, he was Director of the East Asia Program at the Open Society Foundations. He was also a lecturer in...