In the latest “Rule of Law Index 2022” released by the American NGO World Justice Project (WJP), Hong Kong dropped to 22nd among 140 countries and regions in the world, hitting a new low since it was included in the index in 2014. It fell in all eight key categories, with “Constraints on government powers” and “Fundamental rights” being the two items that received the lowest scores.
To be more specific, according to the WJP, Hong Kong’s overall score was 0.73, a decrease of 0.02 from last year and the second consecutive year that the ranking has dropped. Hong Kong ranked 19th in 2021, down from 16th in 2020.
On an individual item basis, Hong Kong’s score fell across the board. “Constraints on government power” scored the lowest at 0.58 points, down 0.03 points from last year, and the rank dropped nine places to 54th; followed by “Fundamental rights,” at only 0.59 points, a reduction of 0.02 points from last year, with the rank dropping seven places to 61st from last year. As for the scores that dropped the most, “Constraints on government powers,” “Open government,” and “Civil justice” were all down 0.03 points from last year.
Going through the finer details onto the indicators, it could be seen that the score of “Government power constrained by the legislature” in the “Constraints of government powers” category is 0.58, with the ranking drop from 52 last year to 65. On “Constraints of government powers by the judiciary,” it fell 0.06 point from last year, with the ranking also dropping 16 places from 22 to 38 this year.
Ted Piccone, senior consultant of the World Justice Project, pointed out that Hong Kong is the only region within Asia-Pacific whose ratings have dropped by more than 2 percent in five years, especially in the areas of checks and balances of powers, and basic human rights.
Piccone believes that the decline in Hong Kong’s ratings may be related to the implementation of the national security law (NSL). He pointed out that peaceful protesters in Hong Kong are accused of violating the Hong Kong NSL, and the Chief Executive can appoint judges to hear cases involving national security. The increase in government powers has also weakened judicial independence. He described the future of the rule of law in Hong Kong as “discouraging.”
The Hong Kong government responded in a press release last night, saying that Hong Kong’s overall ranking in the “Rule of Law Index 2022” remains high. The government disagrees with the opinions about Hong Kong’s score that were cited by some media reports.
