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This is what democracy looks like: huddling up in a shaky voting booth in a grade-school auditorium filling in my ballot’s tiny circles so I can get my “I voted” sticker. (It’s primary day in Illinois.)
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Photo: Louise Delmotte / AP
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1. Hong Kong passes sweeping security bill meant to silence dissent
Lawmakers in Hong Kong unanimously passed a new security bill on Tuesday that would allow the government to more easily crush dissent in the semi-autonomous region.
The law — known as Article 23 — is similar to Beijing’s national security law, which was passed in 2020 following a series of widespread pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong that had begun the year before. Since that law passed, many Hong Kong activists have been prosecuted or have left the city, and pro-democracy publications like the Apple Daily have been shuttered, clearing the way for the speedy passage of Article 23.
An attempt was made at passing Article 23 in 2003, but it failed after half a million Hong Kong residents protested.
When Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997 after decades of British rule, the city was deemed a “special administrative region.” This designation allowed Hong Kong to maintain its capitalist economy and some political autonomy. Article 23 strikes a blow to this independence and will empower authorities to crack down on opposition to both Hong Kong and Beijing.
The benign-sounding Article 23 permits closed-door trials and would harshly punish the following:
- spying and theft of state secrets
- endangering national security
- collaborating with external parties to influence local affairs
- insurrection
- treason
While lawmakers argue that such prohibitions are typical, critics say that, given Article 23’s vague wording, the bill is much broader and more sweeping than similar laws around the world. For example, the law could punish possessing a pro-democracy publication (if it was accompanied by “seditious intent”) or a priest not reporting treasonous secrets heard during confession.
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2. Israel’s limits on aid into Gaza may be war crime, says UN
“The extent of Israel’s continued restrictions on entry of aid into Gaza, together with the manner in which it continues to conduct hostilities, may amount to the use of starvation as a method of war, which is a war crime,” said the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, on Tuesday.
The U.S., notably, disagreed, with a State Department spokesman saying during a press briefing, “That is not something that we’ve observed or witnessed.”
The pronouncement comes a day after the international authority on gauging the severity of food crises said that mass death by starvation is “imminent” in northern Gaza. Seventy percent of people there are experiencing catastrophic hunger.
The foreign policy chief of the European Union went further while addressing a conference on humanitarian aid for Gaza on Monday: “In Gaza we are no longer on the brink of famine, we are in a state of famine, affecting thousands of people,” said Josep Borrell. “This is unacceptable.”
In response, Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said that Borrell should “stop attacking Israel and recognize our right to self-defense against Hamas’ crimes.”
Watch a video of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ program “Prosecuting War Crimes.”
In other Israel-Gaza news:
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3. Gambia considers repealing ban on female genital cutting
Gambian lawmakers referred a law that would repeal a 2015 ban on female genital cutting to committee on Monday for further discussions.
Female genital cutting — also called female genital mutilation — “comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons,” according to the World Health Organization.
The practice, often carried out by traditional religious practitioners, has no health benefits and can often cause medical complications, and even death, for the girls and women who undergo the procedure, according to WHO.
Female genital mutilation is most common in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. In Somalia, for example, 99% of girls and women aged 15 to 49 have undergone female genital mutilation, according to UNICEF. In Gambia, 73% of girls and women in that age range have undergone the procedure.
As of 2021, 84 countries had laws banning female genital mutilation, including Gambia. But, according to the Associated Press, enforcement of Gambia’s law has been “weak,” with only two prosecutions since 2015.
Reporting by Hope O’Dell
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In other news
- Only 10 countries and territories met the World Health Organization’s limits for air particulate matter last year, according to a report published on Tuesday. By this metric, the most-polluted country is Bangladesh, the least is French Polynesia, and the United States is the 33rd least polluted. [Time]
- Brazilian police recommended on Tuesday that former President Jair Bolsonaro be charged with falsifying his COVID vaccination records in order to enter the United States in late 2022. A staunch critic of the vaccines, Bolsonaro once tried to treat a COVID infection with the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine. [The New York Times]
- The British band Chumbawamba has told New Zealand’s deputy prime minister to stop using “Tubthumping,” a song about getting very drunk, at his rallies. “The closest thing New Zealand has to Donald Trump,” according to Bloomberg, Winston Peters plans to remove lessons on gender from school curricula, and he opposes the government using the Māori language. [BBC]
- Late last week, France’s lower house of Parliament passed a law that would require companies to disclose the environmental effects of their products. The bill, which now moves to the Senate, would target fast-fashion brands like Shein. [ABC News]
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Can we thrift our way out of the climate crisis?
In short, definitely not. But how big of an effect does buying secondhand have? Blue Marble’s AJ Caughey explains.
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What we’re watching
I can be a bit of a weirdo in my entertainment choices on sick days. Yesterday, I thought, for reasons unknown, it was a good time to finally watch Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia.” Given the Danish filmmaker’s penchant for brutality, I’ve been wary of his work. (Someday I’ll watch “Dancer in the Dark.”) But I found “Melancholia” — about a very depressed woman (played by Kirsten Dunst!) and the end of the world — to be severe, yes, but also morbidly funny and even tender.
—Laura Adamczyk, staff writer
Thanks for reading. We’ll see you tomorrow.
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