The UN rights chief denounced the "rushed" adoption Tuesday of a new national security law in Hong Kong, calling it "a regressive step for the protection of human rights".
Hong Kong legislators unanimously passed the new law introducing penalties such as life imprisonment for crimes related to treason and insurrection, and up to 20 years in jail for the theft of state secrets.
The law was fast-tracked through the legislative process, despite warnings that it could further curtail freedoms in Hong Kong.
"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," United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement.
The homegrown legislation will work in tandem with the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020 following huge and at times violent democracy protests.
Turk pointed out that the new law introduces five additional categories of crimes, described as treason; insurrection; offences in connection with state secrets and espionage; sabotage and endangering national security; and external interference.
His statement cautioned that the "broadly defined and vague provisions" could lead to the criminalisation of a wide range of conduct that is protected under international human rights law, including freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly.
"This ambiguity is deeply troubling, given its potential misuse and arbitrary application, including to target dissenting voices, journalists, researchers, civil society actors and human rights defenders," Turk said.
"As we have already seen, such provisions readily lead to self-censorship and chilling of legitimate speech and conduct, in respect of matters of public interest on which open debate is vital."
He cautioned that the bill's "external interference" provisions and its broad definition of what constitutes "external force" risked having an additional chilling effect on rights defenders' engagement with the UN rights bodies.
"For such important legislation, with a significant impact on human rights 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," Turk said.
