National Security Law has created a human rights emergency in Hong Kong June 29, 2021 Share Share Hong Kong’s National Security Law (NSL) has decimated the city’s freedoms and created a landscape increasingly devoid of human rights protections, Amnesty International said in a new research briefing released today, exactly one year after the Beijing-imposed legislation took effect. ‘In the Name of National Security’ details how the law enacted on June 30, 2020 has given the authorities free rein to illegitimately criminalize dissent while stripping away the rights of those it targets. “In one year, the National Security Law has put Hong Kong on a rapid path to becoming a police state and created a human rights emergency for the people living there,” said Yamini Mishra, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Regional Director.