AOHKMP Launch PC 
AOHKMP Launch PC 
Steve Vines, AOHKMP Director 
Chris Wong, AOHKMP Diector 
Pierre Vicary, President of the National Union of Journalists 
Representative from RSF/ NUJ/ IFJ 
Jim Boumel – on behalf of the International Federation of Journalists and national executive committee member of the NUJ 
Azzurra Moores, UK Campaigns Officer / Chargée de campagnes, REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS 
Joseph Ngan, AOHKMP Director
Association of Overseas Hong Kong Media Professionals CIC (AOHKMP) Official Launch PC.
Attendance: Steve Vines/ Chris Wong/ Joseph Ngan, AOHKMP Director
Pierre Vicary, President of the National Union of Journalists
Azzurra Moores, UK Campaigns Officer / Chargée de campagnes, REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
Jim Boumel – on behalf of the International Federation of Journalists and national executive committee member of the NUJ
HONG KONG JOURNALISTS OVERSEAS LAUNCH NEW ORGANISATION
In response to the severe crackdown on media freedom in Hong Kong and the unprecedented exodus of media professionals, a group of prominent journalists founded the Association of Overseas Hong Kong Media Professionals (AOHKMP) at the National Union of Journalists’ London headquarters on October 31st.
Based in the UK, the Association has members in all major countries housing exiled Hong Kong media professionals.
Director of the AOHKMP Joseph Ngan pointed out that the launch coincided with the sedition trial of leading pro-democracy news portal Stand News editors, including former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen and former acting chief editor Patrick Lam. This is to be followed by the trial of Jimmy Lai, founder of the mass circulation Apple Daily, and the newspaper’s editorial staff. Ngan described these events as heartbreaking’
Steve Vines, Director of the AOHKMP, said that the association was working to rekindle the Hong Kong spirit overseas and bring together media professionals who have been forced to leave their homeland.
“We are here in a kind of bitter and sweet mood; nobody wants to form an
association of overseas Hong Kong media professionals; we formed it because the situation in Hong Kong is so extremely bad that many people in this trade are no longer able to practice in Hong Kong. They’ve been arrested, thrown out of their jobs and are living on an absolute tightrope.“ He added that the Association would be working with media professionals in exile and international media organisations to monitor the repression of the press in Hong Kong and do what it takes to restore press freedom.
The President of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), Pierre Vicary expressed the NUJ’s solidarity with the AOHKMP and was looking forward to greater collaboration with the association.
Jim Boumel, representing the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) voiced alarm about the Chinese government’s efforts to stifle free expression both domestically and internationally: “We are all shocked to learn about the activity of the (Chinese) secret service centers all over Europe, which were recently exposed as being used to track Chinese citizens, including dissidents, and to exert pressure on them to go back to China.”
The UK Campaigns Officer of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Azzurra Moores, emphasized the rapid fall of Hong Kong’s press freedom ranking. She said that in the previous two years, the Chinese government had used the National Security Law as a pretext to prosecute at least 23 defendants and shrink media pluralism in Hong Kong.
For media enquiries, please visit our website: https://www.aohkmp.org.uk/contact-us/ Or email us: info@aohkmp.org.uk
Event playback