HUMAN RIGHTS was a quarterly magazine published by the now defunct Amnesty International Hong Kong from 2004 to 2019, which featured human rights topics with Hong Kong context on each issue.

Issue. 28 “Human Rights and Sports” (Winter 2019)

Sports are not only about training, competition and challenges; there are lots of related human rights topics: gender equality, labour rights, rights of the disabled, etc. For example, the two athletes and the dancer Amnesty interviewed in this issue talked about the gender stereotyping they have faced. Interviewees from Chosen Power also shared the difficulties faced when persons of different abilities and the disabled try at sports, and how they cope.

Sports can also be a window for vulnerable groups. Members of the Dawn Homeless team shared how they were empowered through joining the team and the Homeless World Cup, thus having their lives changed…

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Issue. 27 “Something about Freedom of Expression” (Summer 2019)

In recent years, the space for expressing views in Hong Kong has been narrowing. Many sectors have been silenced in different ways because of various pressures. The situation is worrying. Freedom of expression is a basic human rights and an enabler for all civil liberties.

Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that everyone has the right to hold opinions without interference and to freedom of expression. To further explore freedom of expression, this issue invites different individuals and social groups to discuss topics such as press freedom, civil participation, boundaries of freedom of expression and the “post-truth” phenomenon. A local artist is also invited to express his thoughts on freedom of expression in the form of visual art…

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Issue. 21 “The Right of Ethnic Minorities to Education” (Spring 2017)

Ethnic minorities constitute 6.4% of the whole population in Hong Kong. However, due to absence of an accessible curriculum, teaching materials and assessment, ethnic minority students encounter profound difficulties in learning Chinese, which in turn undermines their equal right to education, thus limiting their academic performance and access to higher education.

Subsequently they have limited employment opportunities and a lesser chance for upward social mobility. Let us look into the right to education enshrined by the international human rights framework…

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Issue. 18 “The Rule of Law” (Summer 2016)

Some of us may mistake the rule of law as difficult legal provisions which only judges, lawyers and law enforcement officers can understand. Some of us may think we would never get involved in lawsuits and it does not matter if we do not understand the rule of law. In face, the rule of law is inextricably linked to our daily lives. We can only protect our rights and defend social justice by understanding the rule of law.

According to a speech delivered by the retired Hon Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma, the rule of law is the foundation of society. The objective of the court is “to ensure fundamental human rights are properly enforced by the courts, and that individual rights and the rights of others in our community are all respected”

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Issue. 17 “Refugees and Human Rights” (Spring 2016)

2015 was the year of the refugees crisis. Along the Mediterranean Sea, you can see an influx of Syrian refugees arriving in Europe after a perilous sea journey or dead bodies found washed ashore. You can also see the Syrian refugees arriving in Western Europe after going through multiple and hostile boarders.

In Asia, the Rohingya refugees flee persecution in Myanmar by boat. However, some South East Asian countries pushed their overcrowded vessels back from their shores and prevented them from disembarking. After sparking an international outcry, the South East Asian countries provided humanitarian shelter to the Rohingya refugees on a temporary basis…

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Visit ISSUU to access all HUMAN RIGHTS issues from Year 2004 to 2019