當年今日
關於我們

Would national security law encourage children to tell on parents, asks law don

蘋果日報 2020/06/27 08:00



A child ratting his father out for reading material unapproved by the state and reporting him for leaking state secrets might well become reality, under a national security law just days away from taking effect in Hong Kong, a legal academic has warned.

The scary scenario was postulated by law professor Eric Cheung Tat-ming of the University of Hong Kong, speaking at a seminar where scholars, educators and officials were discussing the way forward, ahead of Beijing’s approval of new legislation to ban subversion in the city.

Cheung expressed his greatest fears about the looming legislation as the scope of the offenses remained unknown. Concerns are growing that civil liberties will be further eroded with the enactment of the new law.

The academic said he feared the local version of national security law would be similar to provisions on mainland China, which followed an “all-inclusive” approach.

While the new law would set the stage for patriotic education in schools, it might also create divisions in society or even in families as children could be encouraged to expose acts considered to have violated the law. “Are kids going to spy on their own parents about what they read, and report them if they think national secrets are involved?” Cheung asked.

He added that the new law would effectively tear down the “firewall” which set the legal systems of Hong Kong and the mainland apart. Under the “one country, two systems” arrangement under which Hong Kong was handed from Britain to China in 1997, Hong Kong has its own independent judiciary. But critics warn the new law will effectively blend the mainland’s legal system into Hong Kong’s.
-----------------------------
Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app
To know more: https://bit.ly/2yMMfQE
Apple Daily mobile app latest version DOWNLOAD NOW