The European Union and the United Nations said Hong Kong's new national security bill was deeply worrying and could erode fundamental freedoms in the China-ruled city.
"It is alarming that such consequential legislation was rushed through the legislature through an accelerated process, in spite of serious concerns raised about the incompatibility of many of its provisions with international human rights law," said United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk in a statement released on Tuesday.
The comments came the same day Hong Kong lawmakers unanimously passed the new bill only two weeks after it was first presented, fast-tracking a major piece of legislation that critics say further threatens the city's freedoms.
The package, known as Article 23, punishes offences including treason, sabotage, sedition, the theft of state secrets, external interference and espionage with sentences ranging from several years to life imprisonment.
The legislation follows a China-imposed national security law passed in 2020 after violent street protests a year earlier.
Since the law was imposed, scores of pro-democracy activists have been jailed and the legislation also triggered sanctions from the United States, including against Chief Executive John Lee and other senior government officials.
Turk's statement said that broadly defined and vague provisions in the bill could lead to the "criminalisation of a wide range of conduct protected under international human rights law, including freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and the right to receive and impart information."
For it to be passed without a "thorough process of deliberation and meaningful consultation is a regressive step for the protection of human rights in Hong Kong," he said.
India’s economy will become carbon neutral by the year 2070, the country’s prime minster has announced at the COP26 climate crisis summit in Glasgow. The target date is two decades beyond what scientists say is needed to avert catastrophic climate impacts. India is the last of the world’s major carbon polluters to announce a net-zero target, with China saying it would reach that goal in 2060, and the United States and the European Union aiming for 2050.
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
A crucial U.N. conference heard calls on its first day for the world's major economies to keep their promises of financial help to address the climate crisis, while big polluters India and Brazil made new commitments to cut emissions. World leaders, environmental experts and activists all pleaded for decisive action to halt the global warming which threatens the future of the planet at the start of the two-week COP26 summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Monday. The task facing negotiators was made even more daunting by the failure of the Group of 20 major industrial nations to agree ambitious new commitments at the weekend.