Oct. 11 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The spokeswoman for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ravina Shamdasani, said on Tuesday that she felt “alarmed” by the deterioration of the human rights situation in China after the sentence imposed on Saturday against five adolescents, four of them minors, for protesting against the Government.
In a statement, he lamented that the five have been sentenced under the Hong Kong National Security Law, which has been harshly criticized by the opposition and voices against Beijing for considering that it violates the freedoms and rights of the Hong Kong population. .
“We have repeatedly expressed our concern about the negative impact of the National Security Law on fundamental freedoms in the region. We remind the authorities of their obligations under International Law, especially in relation to the International Covenant on Civil Rights and Politicians and the Convention on the Rights of the Child”, he indicated.
Likewise, it has pointed out that the “arrest, detention or imprisonment of minors must be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the law and must be used only as a measure of last resort and for a limited period of time.”
The UN Human Rights Committee, which oversees implementation of the agreement, urged the government in July to “take concrete steps to withdraw the National Security Law and, ultimately, prevent its application.”
“We urge the authorities to ensure that Hong Kong legislation complies with the country’s obligations in terms of international law,” he asserted.
The five teenagers, who have been sentenced to three years in prison, belonged to a group known as The Return of the Brave and were between 15 and 18 years old when the proceedings began under the orders of magistrate Kwok Wai Kin.
This Saturday, the judge has ordered that the five convicted spend the next three years in a vocational training center in a penal institution, according to the verdict to which the newspaper ‘South China Morning Post’ has had access.
