On September 18, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC) hosted the Hong Kong Human Rights Forum to mobilize support from the United States for Hong Kong in their struggle for freedom and human rights. The Forum featured a diverse group of voices from Hong Kong including student leaders, journalists, social workers, and artists sharing their experiences of being on the frontline of the struggle for Hong Kong’s freedom, as well as American observers and Members of Congress.
Participants included:
- Irving Alfred Baleros, Social worker and activist
- Badiucao, Chinese-Australian political cartoonist, artist, and rights activist
- Sunny Cheung, Spokesperson of HKIAD and former member of the Hong Kong Federation of Students
- Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sponsor of the Cruz-Markey Hong Kong Policy Reevaluation Act of 2019
- Dr. Dan Garrett, Author, photographer, political scientist, and visual sociologist
- CK, Hong Kong Activist
- Claudia Rosett, American investigative journalist and editor
- Joey Sui, Spokesperson of HKIAD and Vice President of the Students’ Union of the City University of Hong Kong
- Marion Smith, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, Executive Director
- SH, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Associate Professor
- LV, Front-line Hong Kong activist
The Forum will include an art exhibit featuring art by Badiucao, Dan Garrett, and Kacey Wong.
A press conference will he held at the end of the Forum.
Schedule:
3:30 PM Registration
4:oo PM Event Start
5:30 PM Press Conference
6:00 PM Event End
Participant Biographies:
Badiucao is a Chinese political cartoonist, artist and rights activist who lives in Australia. He is regarded as one of China’s most prolific and well-known political cartoonists. His work was used by Amnesty International, Freedom House, BBC, CNN, and China Digital Times and exhibited in Australia, America, and Italy. His penname has been adopted to protect his identity.
Mr. Irving Alfred Baleros is a social worker and activist on the frontline for freedom in Hong Kong. He works with the Reclaiming Social Work Movement.
Mr. Sunny Cheung is a student at Hong Kong University and a front-line pro-democracy protest leader. Mr. Cheung is part of a group of students representing the Hong Kong Higher Institutions International Affairs Delegation (IAD), a lobby group founded by the student unions of Hong Kong’s universities. Mr. Cheung is currently working in Australia on behalf of Hong Kong’s student protestors, lobbying on behalf of their pro-democracy cause.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is a sponsor of the Cruz-Markey Hong Kong Policy Reevaluation Act of 2019. Before his election in 2012, Sen. Cruz served as Solicitor General for Texas. During his time as Solicitor General and in private practice, he authored more than 80 U.S. Supreme Court briefs and argued 43 oral arguments, including nine before the Supreme Court. He currently serves on the Committee on Foreign Relations, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the Committee on the Judiciary, the Joint Economic Committee, and the Committee on Rules and Administration. Senator Cruz has a J.D. from Harvard University, and a B.A. from Princeton University.
Dr. Dan Garrett is an author, photographer, political scientist, and visual sociologist studying China’s securitization of Hong Kong. His first book examined the Region’s vivacious protest culture and defense of the Hongkonger identity. A second book investigating China’s post-Umbrella national security crackdown on protests/protesters and the militarization of SAR protest policing is in process.
SH is Former Associate Professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She has worked in social work education and research for over 20 years. Her recent work focused on exploring the efficacy of social capital intervention in working with disadvantaged families and children in Hong Kong. She writes widely on narrative therapy in international journals and has published multiple books on this topic.
CK is a female activist who focuses her work on countering the CCP’s disinformation campaign in Hong Kong. Her name will not be made public to protect her identity.
Ms. Claudia Rosett is an American investigative journalist and editor. For more than three decades, she has reported from Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union. She earned an Overseas Press Club Citation for Excellence for her on-the-ground coverage of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. She previously worked as staff writer for The Wall Street Journal, and a journalist-in-residence for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. In 1994, she broke the story of the existence of North Korean labor camps in the Russian Far East. In 2002, Rosett exposed the United Nations Oil-for-Food scandal, the largest financial fraud in the history of humanitarian relief. She has appeared before the U.S. Congress to testify on United Nations-related corruption. Her reporting on the issue earned her the 2005 Eric Breindel Award and the Mightier Pen Award. Ms. Rosett is also a foreign policy fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum. She holds a B.A. from Yale University, an M.A. in English from Columbia University, and an M.B.A. with a specialization in finance from the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business.
Ms. Joey Siu is a spokesperson of HKIAD, and the Vice President of the Students’ Union of the City University of Hong Kong. The HKIAD was founded in July this year amidst ongoing protests in Hong Kong, aiming to garner international support through raising concerns and awareness within the international community. The IAD is composed of student-union representatives from 12 higher education institutions in Hong Kong, with a primary mission to mobilize international support. The IAD student group has held an impressive peaceful rally in Hong Kong and organized the class boycott in September.
Mr. Marion Smith is a civil society leader and expert in international affairs, and has been Executive Director of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation since March 2014. As Executive Director, he provides strategic leadership for VOC and spearheads its educational initiatives. He is also founding president of the Common Sense Society, an international foundation that promotes civic engagement, entrepreneurship, and leadership virtues among young professionals in the United States and Europe. His articles have appeared in publications including USA Today, The Hill, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and National Review.
LV is a female activist on the front-line of the extradition protest movement in Hong Kong. Her name will not be made public to protect her identity.
