Repressive Laws Are Increasingly Being Used to Silence Activists Across Asia

The Diplomat

6 days ago

From Hong Kong to India, governments are passing and weaponizing new laws to pursue and jail whoever speaks up for human rights.
Four years ago, on the 32nd anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, plain clothes police arrested human rights lawyer and pro-democracy activist Chow Hang-tung outside her office in Hong Kong. Her alleged crime? Publishing two social media posts advertising a public vigil to remember the notorious crackdown in Tiananmen Square. At the time, Chow was the vice-chair of the now defunct Hong Kong Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement of China, the main organizer of annual Tiananmen vigils.
Chow is a target of Hong Kong's draconian National Security Law, which grants authorities in the territory sweeping powers to crush any form of dissent. Today, Tiananmen vigils in Hong Kong are no more, and Chow remains locked up at the Tai Lam Women's Correctional Center, fighting baseless charges of subversion and sedition.
Sadly, such repression is not unique to Hong Kong. Across Asia, authoritarian and democratic governments alike are passing and weaponizing new laws – in clear violation of international law and standards – to pursue and jail whoever speaks up for human rights. Today, on Nelson Mandela International Day, we call for the release of Chow Hang-tang, who is part of CIVICUS' Stand As My Witness campaign, as well as other human rights defenders unjustly locked up in Asia around the world.
Beijing pushed the repressive National Security Law in 2020 in response to mass pro-democracy protests a year earlier. Since then, the National Security Law, and further legislation passed in 2024, has been used to target hundreds of activists, journalists, protesters and critics.
The CIVICUS Monitor, which tracks civic space conditions across the world, now rates Hong Kong's civic space as 'closed,' the worst possible ranking. Hundreds remain behind bars as police systematically use the new laws to arrest and prosecute people on trumped-up charges. Often, the process itself becomes the punishment as activists spend years in detention before they are even tried.
These laws have created a chilling effect, forcing independent news outlets and civil society groups to shut down. In April this year, Hong Kong's oldest and largest pro-democracy political party moved to disband as Beijing's sweeping crackdown has left opposition groups without room to operate. Meanwhile, Hong Kong authorities are trying to take their repression international, by offering bounties for activists-in-exile charged under the National Security Law and by arresting the father of a prominent U.S.-based activist, Anna Kwok.
Such repression should be viewed with disdain, but rather than being an outlier, Hong Kong's National Security Laws have become something of a model for other Asian governments looking to stifle dissent.
Look no further than Beijing's rival, India, often called the world's largest democracy, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government resorts to similar laws to consolidate power and silence his critics. Dozens of activists have been jailed under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), a draconian anti-terror law. Under the UAPA's provisions, activists remain in pre-trial detention for long periods and are denied bail, including human rights defender Khurram Parvez, who was arrested in November 2021. His trial has yet to start, four years on.
In neighboring Pakistan, the government also weaponizes anti-terror legislation against activists like Mahrang Baloch, who languishes in prison on terror charges for speaking out against ongoing violations of ethnic minority rights by the Pakistan security forces in Balochistan.
In Thailand, more than 270 individuals have been arrested or prosecuted under lese-majeste or royal defamation laws since early 2020, many of whom have received long consecutive sentences from the courts. Human rights lawyer Arnon Nampa, for instance, received multiple convictions and 26 years in jail for calling for democratic reforms and reforms of the Thai monarchy.
Meanwhile, Cambodia's Han Manet regime has used 'incitement' laws as their weapon of choice to silence activists, journalists, and members of the opposition.
With legal repression spreading across Asia, the international community must do more to push back and stand with these brave activists. Foreign governments must not only speak out when activists are convicted, but step in much earlier when these human rights defenders are arrested. Diplomats should visit wrongly arrested activists in detention, monitor their trials, and engage with their families. Foreign governments must also use international platforms like the United Nations Human Rights Council and bilateral meetings to highlight their cases and call for their release.
Activists-in-exile also need support and assistance, especially when they face transnational repression. The recent G-7 Leaders' Statement on Transnational Repression was a good start, but strong rhetoric must now turn into serious action. Failure to undertake such actions will see a further regression of democracy and repression of civic freedoms in Asia and elsewhere.
However, foreign governments won't apply pressure unless we, as people and activists around the world, push them to take action. Wherever we are, we must use our voices to speak up for human rights defenders behind bars, including through campaigns like Stand As My Witness, which has helped contribute to the release of over 30 human rights defenders since its inception five years ago.
After all, jailed human rights defenders aren't giving up on themselves or their causes. This year, on the fifth anniversary of her arrest, Chow Hang-tung went on a hunger strike behind bars to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre and to reaffirm her commitment to the struggle despite her imprisonment. It's time for all of us to stand in solidarity with her and other jailed human rights defenders in Asia and across the world.