Monday, November 18
Reception: 6:30-7:00pm EST
Discussion: 7:00-9:00pm EST
Lipton Hall - D'Agostino Hall
108 W 3rd St, New York, NY 10012
The event will be livestreamed.
Please join the Bernstein Institute for Human Rights at NYU Law and Human Rights in China for a timely and urgent discussion, Human Rights in Hong Kong: The Uses, Limits, and Challenges of International Advocacy in Supporting a Grassroots Movement for Democracy. Human rights activists and lawyers at the epicenter of the unfolding crisis will share reflections and strategies on the role international advocacy can play in supporting a pro-democracy movement.
Human Rights in Hong Kong is part of an Institute initiative to honor and commemorate Bob Bernstein's contributions to the human rights field. Throughout the year we will host events on issues that Bob championed throughout his life: from human rights in China, to protection of free expression and dissent, and investing in the next generation of human rights leaders.
Human Rights in Hong Kong Panelists:
Sharon K. Hom is an Adjunct Professor of Law at NYU School of Law. Hom is also Professor of Law Emerita at the CUNY School of Law where she taught for 18 years, including training judges, lawyers, and law teachers in China. In addition to her academic activities, she is the Executive Director of Human Rights in China, and leads their human rights, media advocacy and strategic policy engagement with NGOs, governments, and multi-stakeholder initiatives since 2003. She has actively lobbied and participated in the UN human rights system for more than 15 years and published extensively on Chinese legal reforms, trade, technology, and international human rights. Hom was named one of the Wall Street Journal’s “50 Women to Watch” in 2007. She received her J.D. from NYU School of Law.
Nathan Law is a politician and activist from Hong Kong, currently studying at Yale University. As a former student leader, he has been chairman of the Representative Council of the Lingnan University Students Union (LUSU), acting president of the LUSU, and secretary-general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS). He was one of the student leaders during the 79-day Umbrella Movement n 2014. He is the founding and former chairman of Demosistō, a new political party derived from the 2014 protests. On 4 September 2016, at the age of 23, Law was elected to serve as a legislator for Hong Kong Island, making him the youngest lawmaker in the history of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Over his controversial oath-taking at the Legislative Council inaugural meeting, his office was challenged by the Hong Kong Government which resulted in his disqualification from the Legislative Council on 14 July 2017.
Jeffrey Ngo is a writer, historian, and pro-democracy activist based in Washington, D.C., where he is pursuing a Ph.D. in History at Georgetown University. His articles have appeared in Time magazine, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Hong Kong Free Press, and Dissent. Beyond academia, Ngo serves as chief researcher for Demosisto, the Hong Kong-based youth political group that advocates self-determination. He has worked for two successful Legislative Council election campaigns: Nathan Law’s in 2016 and Au Nok-Hin’s in 2018. Moreover, Ngo is one of the lead architects of “Decoding Hong Kong’s History,” which has been featured by the Financial Times and the Hong Kong Free Press. Since launching in February 2017, this public history project has crowdfunded over HK$300,000 to collect, digitize, and analyze declassified files from archives around the world. Jeffrey holds degrees from NYU's College of Arts and Science ('16) and Graduate School of Arts and Science ('17).