The International Publishers Association (IPA) and European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF) have raised concerns about the potential limitations on the freedom to publish in Hong Kong following the adoption of the widely criticized new national security law Article 23, which is officially now called the “Safeguarding National Security Ordinance,” on March 19.
The new, updated security law, according to Human Rights Watch, punishes “peaceful speech and civil society activism with heavy prison sentences, expands police powers, and weakens due process rights.” It has been criticized by Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as the International Service for Human Rights, the Hong Kong Centre for Human Rights, and the Hong Kong Democratic Council over its sweeping provisions and broad definitions.
Book publishing has long been a target of government censors in mainland China, and for more than a decade, as China's control over Hong Kong expanded, the city has seen widespread arrests and disappearances amid other censorship efforts. In recent years, the Hong Kong Book Fair, which attracts more than a million annual visitors and was long among the most popular in the region for international exhibitors, has removed and banned publishers it finds objectionable.
"The last ten years have seen publishing and bookselling in Hong Kong decimated. From intimidation to restrictive security laws, we must recognize the tools of censorship and resist them," Kristenn Einarsson, chair of the IPA's Freedom to Publish Committee, said in a statement.
EIBF copresident Jean-Luc Treutenaere added: "The steady deterioration of the freedom of expression in Hong Kong is alarming and disheartening. The book publishing and bookselling communities are under threat by repressive security laws, which are resulting in vibrant and beloved bookshops shutting down. Any closure, and particularly in current times, is a massive loss to the book world."
The IPA has previously expressed concern about the situation for publishers in Hong Kong, citing the September 2022 sentencing of five authors and publishers to 19 months in prison for “conspiracy to print, publish, distribute, display, and/or reproduce seditious publications.” In 2018, the IPA awarded the Prix Voltaire to Chinese-born Swedish publisher Gui Minhai, who co-owned the Hong Kong–based Mighty Current Media, a publishing house and book distributor. Gui was one of the "Causeway Bay Bookstore Five," five booksellers associated with the bookstore of the same name—an subsidiary of Mighty Current since 2014—who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in 2015. Gui is currently in jail in China, and organizations including the IPA, PEN America, and Reporters Without Borders continue to advocate for his release.
