International rights groups are voicing concerns about Hong Kong’s dwindling freedoms after a major civil society group in the Chinese-ruled city announced on Aug. 15 to disband, amid a looming police investigation.
Hong Kong’s Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF), a pro-democracy umbrella group established in 2002, was the organizer behind some of the biggest rallies in the city in recent years. On June 6, 2019, over 1 million took part in a CHRF march, which also marked the start of the city’s anti-Chinese Communist Party, pro-democracy movement. Days later, on June 16, about 2 million Hongkongers took part in another march.
In a statement published on Sunday, CHRF said the decision to disband, made during the group’s meeting two days earlier, was unanimous.
“In the course of over a year, the [Hong Kong] government, in the name of the pandemic, continuously turned down march applications by the CHRF and other organizations,” the CHRF stated.
“Many of our member groups are under oppression, as [the city’s] civil society is facing unprecedented challenges.”
The group said it had originally hoped to “continue to face the challenge.” However, the choice to fight on became impossible since its secretariat—an office that includes the positions of a convener, deputy conveners, and finance—had failed to maintain operations, due to the imprisonment of its convener, Figo Chan. Additionally, the group said no members had expressed a willingness to take on the work of the secretariat in the coming year.
Chan is currently behind bars after being sentenced to 18 months in prison in May for taking part in an unauthorized protest in 2019.
It said that the group’s assets, worth about HK$1.6 million (about US$205,570), will be donated to “appropriate groups.”
The group also expressed gratitude for being able to stand with Hongkongers in many different protests, including the fight against an anti-subversion bill known as Article 23 in 2003, the Umbrella Movement in 2014, and the marches against the now-scrapped anti-extradition bill in 2019.
By Frank Fang
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