Opinion: ‘We stand with the Hong Kong trade unionists’

By UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea

Today, 45 out of 47 trade unionists and pro-democracy leaders were sentenced in Hong Kong’s largest national security trial. Their unjust and extreme sentencing is alarming and UNISON strongly condemns the move, and calls for their immediate release.

They were arrested after taking part in an unofficial primary election to select a shortlist of candidates and were, today, given huge prison sentences of between four and 10 years.

Imagine being sent for a very lengthy stay in prison for standing in an election to ensure workers have a voice in Parliament. I can’t.

The 45 pro-democracy defenders include Carol Ng Man-yee (pictured above), the former chair of the TUC’s partner, the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), and Winnie Yu Wai-ming, former president of the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance. They were sentenced for ‘conspiring to commit subversion under the national security law for their participation in the democratic primary’.

I stand in firm solidarity with the 45 and have just written to Catherine West MP, the minister for Asia Pacific in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on the matter.

To explain the situation further, in 2020, 600,000 Hong Kong citizens took part in primary elections intended to determine a shortlist of candidates to avoid splitting the votes for the legislative council elections later that year. In January 2021, the 47 were arrested and charged under the July 2021 national security law, which had not even been enacted at the time of the primary elections.

Beijing had imposed the national security law in June 2020, following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest due to growing authoritarian legislation in the territory. The law, which is vague and being interpreted very broadly by judges, criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts. It also includes disruption to any infrastructure.

Unsurprisingly, it led to the police acting with impunity and hundreds of arrests and dozens of civil society groups disappeared.

Winnie Yu, former president of the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance

The authorities say their law and actions have restored stability and peace to the city but in reality, it was the creeping introduction of authoritarian laws and violations of human and trade union rights that provoked the prolonged protests and since then, the collapse of civil society in the territory.

The violations are borne out by experts at the International Labour Organisation and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which also pointed out that detention of trade unionists without trial contravenes the principles of freedom of association.

Hearteningly though, yesterday, in the first meeting between the Chinese president and a British prime minister for six years, Keir Starmer raised human rights concerns, including in Hong Kong, with Chinese president Xi Jinping at the G20.

The Labour government has a real opportunity to keep hope alive within the Hong Kong community, including those that are now active in UNISON, and that’s why I’ve asked them to go further and:

• strongly condemn the sentences and hold the Hong Kong government accountable
• call for the immediate release of the 45 defendants and all others imprisoned due to political persecution
• in line with the stance of the UN human rights committee and the previous statements of the UK government, reiterate its demand for the Hong Kong government to repeal the national security law
• re-evaluate the status of the Hong Kong economic and trade office, including the privileges and immunities it enjoys, given that Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms have been completely eroded
• ensure that this case, along with the current human rights situation in Hong Kong, is reflected in the outcome of China’s audit and the UK’s China policy.

Ivan Law, ex-president of the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance, now a British national overseas and UNSON member

I’ve also asked the government to use all mechanisms at its disposal to keep Hong Kong human and trade union activists safe if they are targeted extra-territorially by the Hong Kong government with arrest warrants and spy attempts.

As democracies lurch to the right around the world and China stiffens its grip on its citizens and on the Hong Kong territory, it’s more important than ever that we continue to stand up for workers and their unions, as well as pro-democracy activities everywhere.

The article Opinion: ‘We stand with the Hong Kong trade unionists’ first appeared on the UNISON National site.