Whitehouse Communications delivered the UK parliamentary and media campaign for Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong, a grassroots organisation campaigning for freedom and democracy in Hong Kong. The firm established the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Hong Kong, with Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle and Alistair Carmichael MP as its original co-chairs, and helped successfully lobby for the expansion of British National (Overseas) rights and the introduction of the UK’s Magnitsky-style sanctions regime.
The APPG’s inquiry report into human rights abuses by the Hong Kong Police Force gained international coverage across Associated Press, Sky News, BBC News, The Times, NBC Universal and the Washington Post, and drew an official response from the Hong Kong Government.
The challenge
Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong is a grassroots organisation, formed to fight for freedom and democracy for Hong Kong.
The organisation approached Whitehouse Communications to raise the profile of the Hong Kong crisis in Parliament, secure policy change supportive of Hongkongers and democracy, and increase UK media coverage of the issues they face. The brief required a campaign that could operate at the intersection of parliamentary process, international diplomacy and human rights advocacy, and that could handle sensitive evidence, while fully protecting the identity of witnesses.
Our approach
Whitehouse Communications built a parliamentary campaign platform for Stand with Hong Kong that combined a formal APPG structure, sustained parliamentary activity across multiple procedural routes, an evidence-based inquiry, and an international media launch capable of drawing a direct response from the Hong Kong Government.
The work focused on:
- Establishing the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Hong Kong, co-chaired by Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle and Alistair Carmichael MP, to spearhead parliamentary activity in support of Hong Kong.
- Using the APPG’s co-chairs and vice-chairs to table parliamentary questions and debates, and to lay Early Day Motions and Statutory Instruments in support of Hong Kong, on topics including British National (Overseas) citizenship and Magnitsky-style sanctions.
- Delivering an APPG inquiry into human rights abuses perpetrated by the Hong Kong Police Force against medical and humanitarian workers, coordinating months of secure evidence collection, witness testimonies, report writing and design, and ensuring that those who submitted evidence did so safely and with their identities fully protected.
- Holding a press conference to launch the inquiry report, attended by parliamentarians and journalists from Associated Press, Sky News, BBC News, The Times and NBC Universal.
The outcome
The campaign helped successfully lobby for the expansion of British National (Overseas) citizenship rights and the introduction of the UK’s Magnitsky-style sanctions regime. The APPG’s inquiry report gained international coverage across outlets including BBC News, ABC News, the Washington Post, Sky News, Hong Kong Free Press, CityAM, Hong Kong Apple Daily, Barrons and VOA News, and drew an official response from the Hong Kong Government, generating a second day of coverage.
Stand with Hong Kong now has a durable parliamentary platform in the APPG on Hong Kong, an evidence-based record of the human rights abuses on which the campaign is founded, and international media reach on the crisis facing Hongkongers and the UK’s response to it.
