Art Issues

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An open letter to the government from the International Association of Art Critics-Hong Kong (AICAHK)

We write with great concern after the violent events in Admiralty on 12 June 2019.

The International Association of Art Critics-Hong Kong (AICAHK) opposes the government’s proposed amendments to the fugitive/extradition legislation currently before the Legislative Council.

AICA was founded in 1950 under the patronage of UNESCO, with the main objective to support worldwide art criticism in all its forms. AICA has over 4,600 members, grouped into 61 different sections around the world. The Hong Kong section of AICA was established in 1996.

One of the main objectives of AICAHK is "to defend freedom of expression and thought and oppose arbitrary censorship." AICA-Hong Kong and AICA-Taiwan are currently the only AICA sections located in greater-China as, currently, the People''s Republic of China does not fulfil AICA''s human rights and freedom of expression criteria. It is an unfortunate and embarrassing reality: the mainland is not able to be a member of AICA.

Hong Kong has the rule of law, freedom of expression and assembly and an independent judiciary. The mainland, seventy years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, doesn’t.

And that is the crux of our opposition to the proposed fugitive/extradition legislation: human rights and judicial independence on the mainland do not currently fulfil international standards.

We urge you to please withdraw the legislation.

Furthermore, a dialogue with pro-democracy legislators and community representatives needs to be urgently initiated to restore the public’s confidence in the government after the extraordinary violence between protesters and the police on 12 June 2019.


Your sincerely

John Batten
President
13 June 2019



國際藝評人協會香港分會致香港政府的公開信


就2019年6月12日在金鐘發生的暴力事件，我們致函以表達深切關注。

國際藝評人協會香港分會反對特區政府目前將《逃犯/引渡條例》提交香港立法會進行審議修訂。

國際藝評人協會成立於1950年，為聯合國教科文組織(UNESCO)旗下之國際性機構，成立的主要目的是促進世界各地不同形式的藝術評論。會員組織分部於61個國家與地區，會員超過4,600人。國際藝評人協會香港分會成立於1996年。

國際藝評人協會香港分會的主要目標之一是「捍衛人的思想言論自由，反對恣意審查」。目前國際藝評人協會香港分會和台灣分會是國際藝評人協會大中華區唯一的兩個分會，而中華人民共和國並不符合國際藝評人協會的人權和言論自由的標準。中國大陸未能成為國際藝評人協會的成員，這是令人遺憾和尷尬的現實。

香港有法治、享有言論和集會的自由，以及獨立的司法體制。而大陸在中華人民共和國成立70年後，仍沒有這些保障。

這正是我們反對此《逃犯/引渡條例》立法的關鍵所在：目前大陸的人權和司法獨立並不符合國際標準。

我們懇請港府撤回修訂《逃犯條例》。

此外，就示威者於2019年6月12日與警方的激烈衝突，我們促請港府盡快與泛民主派議員和社區代表對話，恢復公眾對政府的信心。


國際藝評人協會香港分會主席
約翰百德
2019年6月13日