April 3, 2025 – The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR) and the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong (CFHK) Foundation renew calls for the Canadian government to sanction Hong Kong officials responsible for human rights abuses and repression.
The RWCHR submitted sanctions recommendations to the Canadian government in October, detailing systematic human rights violations by authorities in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), including arbitrary arrests, political repression, and torture in Hong Kong, and transnational repression abroad.
Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in 2020. Since then, authorities have arrested more than 1,900 political prisoners, curbed voting rights, and cracked down on freedom of the press and speech. In March 2024, Hong Kong lawmakers passed additional security legislation, Article 23, that has been used to further silence pro-democracy voices at the behest of Beijing.
The Chinese Communist Party is also engaged in transnational repression and foreign interference in the U.S. and Canada. We call for Chinese and Hong Kong officials to be sanctioned for interfering in Canada’s political process and violating Canada’s sovereignty.
The CFHK Foundation and RWCHR call on Canada to impose sanctions on 10 key individuals, including Hong Kong’s Chief Executive and other high-level officials, for their roles in undermining the rule of law and suppressing democratic freedoms. One of these individuals, Eliza Chan, is a member of Hong Kong’s governing executive council and currently owns an apartment in Toronto. Chan has publicly supported and assisted in the adoption and implementation of the national security law, and thereafter justified its use against political prisoners.
CFHK Foundation Strategy & Public Affairs Advisor Shannon Van Sant said:
“The Canadian government should immediately sanction officials responsible for the crackdown on freedom in Hong Kong, and foreign interference in Canada. Sanctions would affirm Canada’s commitment to human rights and solidarity with Hong Kong’s political prisoners.”
Brandon Silver, International Human Rights Lawyer and RWCHR Director of Policy and Projects, said:
“Canadian sovereignty is being threatened by transnational repression. Sanctioning the perpetrators would send a clear signal that these crimes are unacceptable and bear consequences. Sanctions would also protect our sovereignty from the corrosive effects of their corrupt foreign capital and influence.”
RWCHR and the CFHK Foundation call on the Canadian government to act in accordance with its foreign policy objectives and impose sanctions on the Hong Kong officials responsible for these abuses. Doing so would affirm Canada’s leadership in defending the international rules-based order, protect human rights defenders, and promote the autonomy and democracy of Hong Kong.
