With the tabling of the proposed amendments to the Hong Kong Extradition Law in 2019, the subsequent adoption of the National Security Law in 2020 and the recent electoral reforms in 2021, the debate about the continuing existence of democratic civil liberties in Hong Kong has come to the fore. Through the application of the National Security Law, a crackdown has already been witnessed vis-à-vis human rights defenders, politicians, and journalists. This crackdown has also resulted in reinvigorating the debate about extradition treaties entered into with China given concerns about human rights abuses and corruption of the judiciary once one becomes the subject of Chinese criminal investigations. That the implications of Chinese extradition practices have become a concern for the EU and its Member States is proven by, amongst other examples, (i) the emerging case law involving extradition cases and (ii) the EU’s new EU-China strategy (2021/2037(INI)). Indeed, following the landmark ruling in 2019 by Sweden’s Supreme Court to bar extradition to China, also on human rights grounds, further case law in EU Member States has emerged involving extradition cases with China, such as in Poland and the Czech Republic. Recently, the European Parliament also adopted its new EU-China strategy in which it calls on Member States with an extradition treaty with China to suspend such extraditions in the event of human rights associated risks.

This EUPLANT panel aims to discuss (i) the current stance in the European Union towards extradition treaties with China and (ii) how extradition litigation has recently materialized in Europe.

Objectives of the workshop:

The Young Professionals Forum on EU diplomacy is organised by the University of Pisa in the context of the project EUDIPLO (2020-2023), “The European Union in International diplomatic relations”. The workshop is especially directed to diplomatic trainees, graduate and post graduate students interested in a career as civil servants within the diplomacy machinery of the EU and its Member States. We invited 12 early career professionals such as former Junior Professionals in Delegation (JPD) and/or former trainees who work (or have worked) at the EU delegations. The young professionals will present their experience at the EU delegations located in different regions of the world. We are particularly interested in giving visibility to the work that is carried out by the EU delegations in the world. Indeed, the EU delegations are less known than national Embassies. The workshop is intended to present the work that is carried out at the EU delegations to explain the diplomatic possibilities and challenges to those interested in a career in diplomacy. Both the European External Action Service and the Union delegations – and hence the European Union’s diplomatic institutional machinery – remain largely unknown to the public. Yet, the European Union not only has a worldwide network of more than 140 ‘embassies’, but at the same time it has assumed ‘state-like’ functions on the basis of the adoption of diplomatic rules that were originally created for states only. Many challenges do remain, but the deep and wide legal and policy powers – and the sheer size and universal network – of the European Union also offer opportunities that remain as of yet untapped. Academic and policy analyses have pointed to a great number of legal and political questions related to the developing role of the EU in international diplomacy. The Network EUDIPLO focuses on this central question: What are the internal and external constraints and opportunities for the European Union to further its ambitions as an international diplomatic actor? In dealing with this question, the Network aims to generate a stronger awareness on, and contribute to deeper insights with regard to, the European Union’s diplomatic activities throughout the world, in third States as well as at multilateral fora.