Independence of lawyers ‘even more important as rule of law faces tests’
The chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association has said the profession’s independence will assume greater importance as the rule of law continues to be challenged, and appealed to the government to maintain a balance between national security and the city’s freedoms.
Victor Dawes said as the body prepared to mark its 75th anniversary that the profession of barrister had been much more than a business over the past seven decades, and would continue to defend its unique calling.
“From our perspective, the balance has to be struck in maintaining law and order and other fundamental rights,” he said.
“That appropriate balance is something that our government will have to bear in mind.”
Dawes was speaking in the wake of the legislature’s approval of a domestic national security law in March, and a week after the courts upheld an injunction to ban the distribution of Glory to
Hong Kong, which became the anthem of the 2019 protests.
The Bar Association suggested in a position paper during a month-long consultation period on the security legislation in February that the government should offer clearer definitions and narrower scopes for proposed offences, to avoid a chilling effect on lawful conduct.
Some suggestions, such as a public interest defence, were incorporated into the law, but an “incitement to violence” requirement for sedition offences was among those not taken on board.
The government has specified authorities and political organisations of an external territory, and groups or individuals that an external territory was “able to exercise a substantial degree of control” over, as external forces for an interference charge.
The government did not include additional information on what would constitute a “state secret” under the nine areas covered by the security legislation.
Dawes, a senior counsel, said it would not have been feasible for all the suggestions made by the association to have been accepted.
“I would sum up by saying, look, I think we gave it our best shot given the circumstances,” he added.
Dawes did not make a direct comment on the legislative process, but said the new law had to be “considered as a whole”, including how the government intended to use it and how cases played out in courts.
He also said there should be a cautious approach to the interim injunction against the distribution of Glory to Hong Kong.
The legal process might not be over and people should not “jump to conclusions”, and they should respect the court’s decision, he added.
As the government developed its national security legal framework, officials also warned several times about “soft resistance”, a term coined by Luo Huining, a former Beijing liaison office director, in April 2021.
Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok told the Post last month that false, misleading and unfair statements designed to create “unnecessary and unjustified fears” or despair were elements of soft resistance.
Dawes said: “The law has to be clear and has to be understood by the public.
“The public will have to know whether they are breaking the law or not.”
The balance has to be struck in maintaining law and order and other fundamental rights VICTOR DAWES, BAR ASSOCIATION