Benedict Rogers

Benedict Rogers is a human rights activist and writer specialising in Asia. He is co-founder and Chair of Hong Kong Watch, an advocacy NGO launched in 2017 to speak out for basic freedoms and autonomy for Hong Kong, and the co-founder and Deputy Chair of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission. Ben is the author of three books on Burma, including Burma: A Nation at the Crossroads (Random House, 2012) and Than Shwe: Unmasking Burma’s Tyrant (Silkworm Books, 2010). He is also the author of From Burma to Rome: A Journey into the Catholic Church (Gracewing, 2015), co-author with Baroness Cox of The Very Stones Cry Out: The Persecuted Church - Pain, Passion and Praise (Continuum, 2011) and with Joseph D'souza of On the Side of the Angels: Justice, Human Rights and Kingdom Mission (Authentic, 2007). He has also written several major human rights reports, including The Darkest Moment: The Crackdown on Human Rights in China 2013-2016, published by the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission in 2016. In 2010, Ben travelled to North Korea with Lord Alton and Baroness Cox, to meet the regime and discuss human rights concerns. In 2011, he co-founded the International Coalition to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea (ICNK), bringing together more than 40 organisations from around the world, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). Ben has also worked in Timor-Leste, the Maldives, Nagorno Karabakh, China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and has lived in Hong Kong and Washington, DC. He stood as a Parliamentary Candidate in the City of Durham in the 2005 General Election, and served as Special Advisor to the Special Representative of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Freedom of Religion Panel. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Religious Freedom Institute, a Trustee of the Phan Foundation and the Chin Human Rights Organisation, an Associate of Oxford House, a member of the Advisory Board of the International Coalition to End Organ Pillaging in China, and a former Trustee of Support for the Oppressed Peoples of Burma, the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust, the Metta Trust for Children’s Education and Reporters Without Borders. He is a regular contributor to international media, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Diplomat, The Catholic Herald, The Tablet, Unherd.com and Conservativehome.com, and has appeared on BBC, CNN, Sky News and Al Jazeera. He has testified at hearings in the US Congress, British Parliament and European Parliament, regularly briefs legislators and policy-makers, is a regular speaker in conferences, universities, schools and churches around the world. These articles are written in a personal capacity and the views expressed are his own.