Hong Kong democracy movement nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

New US secretary of state also favours admitting refugees from Hong Kong

File image: Protesters in Hong Kong chant slogans during a rally against a new national security law in July 2020 (AFP via Getty Images)

A bipartisan group of nine US politicians have nominated Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.  

The move is expected to irk Beijing, which imposed a strict national security law in Hong Kong last year to curb the pro-democracy protests, one in a number of authoritarian moves that have drawn strong international criticism.

The letter to the Nobel Peace Prize committee was released by the US representative James P McGovern, a Democrat, and senator Marco Rubio, a Republican, on Wednesday. It was also signed by representatives Thomas Suozzi, Tom Malinowski, and Vicky Hartzler and senators Jeff Merkley, Gary Peters, Steve Daines, and Todd Young.

The letter emphasised that the nomination is to recognise “all those who have built and maintained human rights and democracy in Hong Kong since 1997 and give voice to those fighting in recent years against the erosion of rights and freedoms guaranteed to Hong Kong’s citizens by international treaty and the city’s constitution.”  

It said that despite recent efforts to “actively suppress voices for human rights and democracy,” the prize would honour the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement’s “bravery and determination that has inspired the world.”

The letter noted that beginning in March 2019, a series of large-scale protests have taken place in Hong Kong which was due to a proposed extradition bill that would put “anyone in Hong Kong at risk of extradition to mainland China, where arbitrary detention, due process violation, torture, and other serious human rights abuses are well documented.”

“The pro-democracy movement earned overwhelming public support and inspired global admiration. The protest on 16 June 2019, for example, included over two million participants out of a total population of approximately 7.5 million people living in Hong Kong, making it one of the largest mass protests in history,” the letter by the US lawmakers said.  

Beijing has since done everything possible to quell the protests, from disqualifying pro-democracy legislators to arresting those favouring greater autonomy. Recently, China had also taken action against people who were trying to flee Hong Kong.  

The letter observed that under the “guise of national security, Hong Kong authorities have harassed a pro-democracy newspaper and jailed its owner, disciplined teachers, disqualified election candidates, and arrested over a hundred activists.”  

Several pro-democracy activists are in prison serving terms, “some in exile, and many more awaiting trials where they are expected to be convicted and sentenced in the coming months for the sole reason of peacefully expressing their political views through speech, publication, elections, or assembly.”  

Recently, the British government had announced a new route for potentially millions of Hong Kong residents to get citizenship in the UK.

The US’s secretary of state Antony J Blinken, during a recent interview with MSNBC, also favoured joining Britain in opening its doors to refugees fleeing political repression in Hong Kong.

The Trump administration was also a vocal critic of China’s Hong Kong policy.