Danny Mok, SCMP, 9 July 2019 Read article here.
Hong Kong Canto-pop singer and pro-democracy activist Denise Ho Wan-sze called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to remove China from the body and convene an urgent session to protect Hongkongers in a short speech at a council meeting on Monday, which was twice interrupted by a delegate from Beijing.
Ho, an active participant in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, was invited by NGOs UN Watch and the Human Rights Foundation to speak at a meeting of the 41st session of the council in Geneva on Monday.
The council, which is based in the Swiss city, is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system made up of 47 states responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the world.
Ho said the Vienna Declaration guaranteed democracy and human rights but they were under serious attack in Hong Kong now, referring to the Hong Kong government’s bid to introduce the controversial extradition bill, which would have enabled the transfer of fugitives to jurisdictions that did not have an extradition agreement with the city, including mainland China.
But Hong Kong police had also used rubber bullets and tear gas against unarmed protesters, she added.
Aspelund gave Ho a reminder and let her continue.
Then Dai interrupted her again, complaining that Ho was attacking one country, two systems, and asked Aspelund to stop her from using “insulting” language.
Aspelund asked her to take note of China’s point of view and allowed her to continue.
In the conclusion to her two-minute speech, she asked: “Will the United Nations convene an urgent session to protect the people of Hong Kong? Given its abuses, will the UN remove China from this human rights council?”
