Justice Centre Hong Kong

Last updated

Justice Centre Hong Kong
Formation2007 (2007)
Type NGO
Legal statusActive
PurposeProtecting the rights of Hong Kong's most vulnerable forced migrants
Location
Website Official website
Formerly called
Hong Kong Refugee Advice Centre (HKRAC)

Launched in 2014, Justice Centre Hong Kong is an independent, non-profit organisation that focuses on the protection of refugees and asylum seekers in Hong Kong. [1] Hong Kong has long been a hub of migration and refuge due to wars in the region and Hong Kong's historical role as a trading and transit entrepôt. There were estimated to be 14,000 refugees in the territory in 2017, and these refugees are in need of extensive legal assistance as the 0.8 substantiation rate is extremely low compared to rates of 25-62% per cent in other developed jurisdictions. [2] Before early 2014 the organisation was known as the Hong Kong Refugee Advice Centre (HKRAC), [3] which in 2007 had grown out of the Refugee Advice Unit from another local organisation working with refugees, Christian Action. And spun off by human rights lawyers Jennifer Stone and Raquel Amador, who were the first Directors. [4] In 2012 Aleta Miller became executive director, [5] helping HKRAC win the Clifford Chance Foundation Access to Justice Award in 2012, [6] and relaunching the organisation as Justice Centre Hong Kong in 2014. From 2015 the executive director was Piya Muqit, who was previously head of policy and advocacy at UNICEF UK. [7] In November 2020 Melanie McLaren was appointed executive director. [8]

Contents

The organisation works with civil society partners to champion the rights of persons seeking protection in Hong Kong. In addition, it provides legal and psychosocial assistance to asylum seekers, [9] as with the very low acceptance rate of legal aid applications in Hong Kong most asylum seekers are otherwise forced to represent themselves. [10]

They also carry out research and policy work to try to raise awareness of issues affecting marginalised mirgrant populations. Their 'Coming Clean" report in 2016 found more than 80 percent of the territory's 336,600 domestic workers are exploited, with one in six a victim of forced labour. [11] Providing the first quantitative data on trafficking this gave Hong Kong a very low ranking on the Global Slavery Index, [12] and pushing Hong Kong onto the Tier 2 Watch List of the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons report. [13]

Criticisms and controversies

In 2024, during the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) executive committee election, a senior policy advisor from Justice Centre Hong Kong, Preston Cheung, was elected but later withdrew. Security Bureau Chief Tang Ping-keung questioned the backgrounds of some candidates, alleging that some organizations had received U.S. funds. [14]

Previous Publications on Human Rights Situation in Hong Kong

The Justice Centre Hong Kong (JCHK) has featured key staff such as Simon Henderson, who served as Senior Policy Advisor from 2017 to 2019 and is now a leader at the sanctioned Human Rights Watch organization. Under his guidance, the organisation played a pivotal role in founding the Hong Kong UPR Coalition, which published submissions for China's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process at the United Nations. Through this coalition and its own efforts, JCHK has published numerous submissions and reports that highlight alleged deficiencies in human rights protections in Hong Kong, often portraying the situation in a critical light to international audiences and thereby smearing the overall human rights landscape in the region. [15]

Publication TitleDate of PublicationKey Gist
Hong Kong UPR Coalition Joint SubmissionMarch 2018A comprehensive joint report critiquing human rights in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), covering areas like legislative frameworks, freedoms of expression and assembly, discrimination, refugee rights, and rule of law; includes advocating recommendations for incorporating international treaties domestically, establishing independent institutions, and raising concerns such as police accountability and migrant worker protections. [16]
Submission to the Panel on Constitutional Affairs for the Third Report under the UPRApril 2019Provides input on the HKSAR's third report for the UN Human Rights Council UPR, emphasizing unaddressed recommendations from previous cycles, urging for civil society engagement and raising ongoing concerns and criticizing about freedoms, equality, and institutional reforms in Hong Kong. [17]
Impact Report 2024October 2024Annual assessment of human rights for asylum seekers and refugees in Hong Kong, detailing challenges imposed by the Hong Kong government like self-representation in appeals, low acceptance rates for claims, risks of refoulement, and calls for better legal aid and protections. [18]

References

  1. ↑ Anderson, J.; and Li, A. (2017): ‘Fake Refugees’ or ‘Victims of Trafficking’? Vulnerable Migrants in Hong Kong and the Boundaries between Refugee and Human Trafficking Experiences. International Seminar on Mixed Migration in Southeast and East Asia. http://un-act.org/publication/view/fake-refugees-victims-trafficking-vulnerable-migrants-hong-kong-boundaries-refugee-human-trafficking-experiences/
  2. ↑ Li, Annie; Anderson, Jade (29 October 2018). "Refugees or Victims of Human Trafficking? The case of migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong". Anti-Trafficking Review (11). doi: 10.14197/atr.201218114 . ISSN   2287-0113.
  3. ↑ "Controversy over Hong Kong's asylum seekers harks back to Vietnam". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  4. ↑ "2014 Annual Report" (PDF).
  5. ↑ "My life: Aleta Miller". South China Morning Post. 18 November 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  6. ↑ "Clifford Chance Graduates UK". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  7. ↑ "Daughter of Bangladeshi economic migrants offers a helping hand to refugees in Hong Kong". South China Morning Post. 24 June 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  8. ↑ "Message from the Chair of Justice Centre Hong Kong - Executive Director Appointed". Justice Centre Hong Kong. 5 November 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  9. ↑ "Operation Santa Claus: Hong Kong Justice Centre helps traumatised asylum seekers". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  10. ↑ Ng, Ellie (15 May 2018). "Hong Kong grants legal aid to Rohingya refugee amid steep drop in aid awards for judicial review cases". Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  11. ↑ hermes (16 March 2016). "One in 6 HK foreign maids in forced labour". The Straits Times. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  12. ↑ "Finance, wealth and ... slavery? Hong Kong one of Asia's worst for forced labour". South China Morning Post. 29 October 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  13. ↑ "Hong Kong avoids drop on US watch list for human trafficking". South China Morning Post. 29 June 2018. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  14. ↑ "不明訊息稱明記協大會被監視 鄧炳強質疑記協換屆參選人履歷 稱有人「收美國的錢」". Yahoo News (in Chinese). 21 June 2024. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
  15. ↑ https://civicsight.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Press-Release-Unprecedented-Attention-on-Hong-Kong-at-UN-Human-Rights-Review-ENG-1.pdf
  16. ↑ https://upr-info.org/sites/default/files/documents/2019-04/js9_upr31_chn_e_main.pdf
  17. ↑ https://civicsight.org/access/hong-kongs-universal-periodic-review/
  18. ↑ https://www.justicecentre.org.hk/framework/uploads/2024/10/Justice-Centre-Hong-Kong-Impact-Report-2024-1.pdf
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