HONG KONG (SE): After nearly two million people flooding the streets of Hong Kong in peaceful protest yet again, the territory’s chief executive, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, emerged on the morning of August 20 to tell the press that she is willing to create a platform for dialogue but was not inclined to start an independent inquiry into police actions during a political crisis now entering its 12th week.
 

HONG KONG (SE): Over 500 people joined a prayer service, organised by the Justice and Peace Commission and the Hong Kong Federation of Catholic Students, at the music kiosk of Victoria Park on August 18 at 2.00pm before a peaceful rally against the now-suspended extradition bill and police brutality against protesters. 
 

HONG KONG (UCAN): Italian-born Father Franco Mella of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, and along with other advocates attempted to lodge a petition at the Consulate-General of Japan and the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Hong Kong seeking the abolition of the death penalty with representatives of the governments of both Japan and China.
 
Personnel at both locations refused to accept the petition from the petitioners who were singing and shouting slogans, on October 10, the World Day against the Death Penalty.

HONG KONG (SE): Public holidays are the most crowded days for Central, the financial hub of Hong Kong. Foreign domestic workers, who have nowhere to go on their day off,  have little choice but to “occupy Central” week after week. 
 
The Justice and Peace Commission put together a guided tour on July 22 and invited people to come and see the plight of foreign domestic workers first hand.
 

HONG KONG (SE): Prior to the annual July 1 protest march, Church leaders urged around 250 participants at an ecumenical prayer meeting held at Paterson Street, Causeway Bay, not to fear or lose hope, but continue to show mercy and fight for justice and most importantly to keep one’s conscience alive. Those present were urged to defend the city with Christian values. 
 

HONG KONG (SE): A spokesperson from the Justice and Peace Commission of Hong Kong said the newly approved joint checkpoint arrangement for the cross-border rail link shows a total disregard for the spirit of the Basic Law and the promise of One country, two systems.
 
On December 27, the National People’s Congress approved a plan to enforce national laws in part of the West Kowloon terminus for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link.
 

HONG KONG (SE): A tangled web of government interference, an interpretation of the Basic Law by Beijing pre-empting a court decision and meddling in the affairs of the Legislative Council (LegCo) by the former chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, has led the project officer from the Justice and Peace Commission, Jackie Hung Ling-yu, to refer to the barring of four members of the LegCo as political prosecution.
 

Hong Kong (UCAN): Even as Zhang Dejiang, chairperson of the standing committee of China’s National People’s Congress, arrived on May 17 for a three-day visit to Hong Kong, advocates called on the government in Beijing to keep its fingers out of local affairs and to restart the political reform process.