Hong Kong academic freedom under assault in name of security, report says

Legislation sows fear, self-censorship; city's rejection of AP journalist symbolizes climate

20240925 HK academic freedom City U.JPG

This temporary June 4 Memorial Museum -- an exhibit commemorating the Tiananmen crackdown on June 4, 1989 -- was displayed at City University of Hong Kong back in 2013. Since Beijing imposed a national security law in mid-2020, all such memorials have been removed from Hong Kong campuses. (Photo by Kenji Kawase)  

KENJI KAWASE, Nikkei Asia chief business news correspondent

HONG KONG -- Academic freedom has sharply declined in Hong Kong in the four years since Beijing imposed a draconian national security legislation on the city, a new report from Human Rights Watch and the Hong Kong Democracy Council says.

In the 80-page study released Wednesday and titled "'We Can't Write the Truth Anymore': Academic Freedom in Hong Kong Under the National Security Law," the two U.S.-based nongovernmental human rights groups detail how the law has sweeping effects on university campuses. The basic freedoms faculty and students once enjoyed -- freedom of expression, publication, assembly, association and the pursuit of knowledge -- are all under serious attack, the authors warn.

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