HKFP's investigative reporting nominated for prestigious SOPA award
HKFP's 2024 probe into Hong Kong's role in illegal deforestation of the Amazon rainforest was a joint investigation by Mercedes Hutton and Repórter Brasil.
Supply chain data, revealed in the feature, showed that at least four local businesses had imported beef farmed by a man whom Brazilian police had called 'the greatest devastator of the Amazon.'
It is in the running for a Carlos Tejada Award for Excellence in Investigative Reporting next month. Also nominated in the regional category is a feature on Thailand's cyber scam victims by HaRDstories, and a Mekong Eye investigation into meat smuggling.
SOPA said in a Thursday press release that there were over 700 entries, with 120 volunteer judges asked to pick the top contenders.
Established in 1999, the SOPA Awards recognise editorial excellence in both new media and traditional journalism in the Asia-Pacific region. HKFP has won three prizes in previous years.
The SOPA 2025 Awards Gala Dinner will be held on Thursday, June 26, at the JW Marriott Hotel. Editor at Large for Bloomberg Weekend Mishal Husain, a former BBC World presenter, will be the keynote speaker, alongside broadcaster Karen Koh as host.
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Four LGBTQ groups – Hong Kong Marriage Equality, Dear Family, Pink Alliance, and Covenant of the Rainbow – also launched a joint petition to collect signatures. Performance artist Holok Chen staged two events to advocate for support for the government's bill and call out lawmakers for 'homophobic slurs.' In an act called 'Cry Me a Rainbow,' Chen, who identifies as non-binary, wore a rainbow cape and posed crying outside the Legislative Council building on July 25, on the second day of the bill committee meeting. A few days later, on Monday, they and an unnamed activist stood outside the Cotton Tree Drive Marriage Registry, dressed as monsters to symbolise the way Chen said lawmakers had 'demonised' the LGBTQ community. Chen's street performances were a rare display of public action amidst the dwindling space for civic advocacy in the wake of the Beijing-imposed national security law in 2020. What's been said in the written submissions? It is unclear how many written submissions have been received. However, as of Thursday evening, over 10,000 had been uploaded to the LegCo website. All written submissions are made public unless the writer requests privacy. Some who sent in their responses identified as members of the LGBTQ community. One writer, Ms Lo – a bisexual woman – said the proposed framework could erase the stigma faced by same-sex couples and allow the public to see that they are no different from heterosexual couples. Another writer, Mandy Wong, said she was a Christian who believed that every relationship deserved respect and recognition. A lesbian, Wong said she hoped the government could scrap the requirement that couples must first be married overseas before registering in Hong Kong, so as not to impose a financial burden on them. Many submissions also expressed opposition to the framework, saying that it breached Chinese 'moral standards' and would cause a decline in the birth rate. Others said pushing for recognition of same-sex partnerships was 'Western thinking,' citing national security as a concern. Do lawmakers support the bill? Since the 2021 electoral overhaul, which ensured only 'patriots' could become lawmakers, government bills have passed unopposed in LegCo. In the absence of pro-democracy lawmakers who have shown support for LGBT rights in previous Legislative Council terms, dissenting voices have dominated the discussions on the same-sex partnership bill. Almost all major political parties with representation in the legislature, such as the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) and the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU), have suggested they would oppose the government's proposal. The parties say a framework recognising same-sex partnerships would threaten traditional family values and pave the way for the legalisation of same-sex marriage, something the government has denied. Many lawmakers already showed opposition during a meeting on July 3, when the government first introduced the proposal to LegCo. Holden Chow, a legislator from the DAB, the city's biggest pro-establishment party, said that the framework could encourage 'two fathers' and 'two mothers' to adopt children and would impact 'core family values.' Fellow lawmakers Junius Ho and Priscilla Leung, who are ardent opponents of LGBTQ rights, expressed objections to the bill. Ho described the proposal as 'hurting tens of thousands of future generations' and suggested the government ask Beijing to overturn the CFA's ruling. 'The top court is not always right,' he said on July 3. Leung, of the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (BPA), wrote on Facebook that the framework would 'open a Pandora's box.' Another legislator, Erik Yim, suggested the government digitise the process to deter couples from going to a registry office, taking wedding photos, and uploading them to social media. Doing so, he said at the bills committee meeting on July 25, would prevent the public from confusing their unions with 'actual marriage.' Chow, a committee member, attacked the bill again at the same meeting, saying that allowing same-sex couples who marry remotely to register in the city 'will instantly twist one's definition of marriage.' How do lawmakers intend to vote? A majority vote in the 89-member Legislative Council is required for the bill to pass into law. Currently, around 40 members are expected to vote against the bill. They primarily consist of members of political parties, including the DAB, the FTU, the BPA, and the Liberal Party. Only one party – the New People's Party, which is led by lawmaker Regina Ip and holds six seats in the LegCo – has expressed its support for the bill. The FTU's Stanley Ng, who, like Ip, is also a member of the Executive Council – the government's advisory body – said on Facebook on Thursday that Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang had 'practically begged' him to support the bill or there could be consequences. But Ng said the FTU's stance was firm. Two hours after making the post, Ng removed Tsang's name, according to Facebook's edit history. Tik Chi-yuen, the sole self-proclaimed non-pro-establishment lawmaker, suggested at the July 3 meeting that most Hongkongers were against the bill. The lawmaker, who has voted along pro-Beijing lines in the Legislative Council, asked if the government would 'choose to respect the court or the public's views.' Meanwhile, independent lawmaker Paul Tse has been a more moderate voice in the debate. Also at the July 3 meeting, he said lawmakers ought to respect the Court of Final Appeal's directive. Tse said he thought the framework was 'conservative' and offered only 'core rights' to same-sex couples. He added that the framework had struck a balance, but this view 'had not been heard in the legislature.' What happens if the bill fails to pass? Lawmakers have asked government officials in meetings what would happen if the bill does not receive the majority vote needed to pass by the top court's October 27 deadline. In response to Ip's question on July 23, Llewellyn Mui, the solicitor general of the Department of Justice's Constitutional and Policy Affairs Division, said the government would still have a responsibility after the deadline to fulfil the court's directive. 'The Court of Final Appeal… said the government has a positive obligation to introduce an alternative framework to protect the needs of same-sex couples,' Mui said in Cantonese. Are lawmakers bound to vote for the bill? Ronny Tong, an Executive Council member and a former lawmaker, told HKFP that legislators have the power to choose how to cast their vote, and the court cannot order LegCo to pass any bill. 'If lawmakers vote it down, then [the bill] is dead,' he said in Cantonese. Tong said the government could consider asking the top court for a deadline extension and that the court should 'understand.' He said that the authorities would then have the responsibility to present a new bill to LegCo in the next term, which begins in January, following the legislative elections in December. The government may need to modify the bill to be more widely accepted by lawmakers, Tong said. 'The Legislative Council's composition will change through elections,' he added. 'New lawmakers might have different views.' What's next in the legislative process? Lawmakers on the 15-member bills committee completed their meetings on Monday, following around four hours of a clause-by-clause question-and-answer session with government officials spread over two days. Following the completion of the discussion in the committee on Monday, the bill will move to the council meeting for a debate, in which all 89 lawmakers will take part before voting. No date has been set yet for the debate. The Legislative Council will take a summer break in August before resuming in September.
