New report shows the dramatic fall of human rights in Hong Kong

A new report has revealed the status of human rights in Hong Kong. As China's communist government deepens its control of the semi-autonomous region, the recently released human rights ranking reports show that Hong Kong on some indicators is now at par with Saudi Arabia.According to The Guardian, rankings from the Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) have highlighted the widening gap between Hong Kong's good quality of life scores and its civil and political rights scores, which are among some of the lowest scores in the world.Following a crackdown on the 2019 pro-democracy demonstrations and the introduction of the national security law in 2020, Hong Kong's political rights drastically declined. It fell even lower in 2021, slipping to second-to-last in terms of empowerment rights, behind Vietnam and equal to Saudi Arabia's margin of error.

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With average scores of 2.5, the indicators for freedom of association, assembly, and speech as well as participation in governance were all rated as "very bad." In 2019, the results were 4 or higher.

The study revealed that Hong Kong's right to be free from arbitrary detainment fell into the lowest "very bad" category with a score of 3.5 out of 10. With a score of 5.5, the likelihood of being subjected to torture and other cruel treatment was similarly "bad".

In comparison to suffrage, which decreased from 4 to 2.4 over the same time period, freedom of expression fell from 4.7 in 2019 to 2.7 in 2021.

Thalia Kehoe Rowden, a spokesperson for the HRMI, stated that "what we see here is Hong Kong’s scores are converging downwards towards [last placed] China’s score."

"Hong Kong's empowerment scores have fallen dramatically so that they are nearly the same as China's," Dr K. Chad Clay, an HRMI co-founder told Voice of America (VOA).

(With inputs from agencies)

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