HONG KONG RADIOLOGIST ADVOCATES HUMAN-CENTRED AI AT UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL IN GENEVA
Dr. Kevin Lau Chung-hang welcomes deepening Medical AI: AI for Diagnostic Precision, Doctors for Compassionate Care
GENEVA and HONG KONG, Sept. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Speaking at the 63rd Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC63) at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Dr. Kevin Lau Chung-hang (MH, awarded the Medal of Honour by the HKSAR Government in 2023) delivered a speech calling for the compassionate and equitable deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) to address global development disparities. This marks Dr. Lau’s fourth address to the Human Rights Council, having previously attended its 49th, 50th and 58th sessions.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Right to Development and the 60th anniversary of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights – two major milestones on the international human rights agenda, giving special significance to this session of the Council.
Dr. Lau, a practising radiologist, the Founder & Senior Advisor of Trinity Medical Group and Founding Convenor of the Hong Kong Youth Professional Global Advocacy (HKYPGA), addressed a side event titled “AI for a Better Future.” The session was co-hosted by the Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the UN Office at Geneva and the China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNIE).
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Bridging Healthcare and Digital Divides
Drawing from his frontline experience in Hong Kong’s public hospitals, Dr. Lau noted how AI is already transforming local care. Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority currently operates 15 AI models across public hospitals, including automated systems that triage 2,000 chest X-rays daily.
However, Dr. Lau stressed that technological progress must serve human dignity. “AI will read the scan; the doctor must still hold the hand,” he stated, pointing out that intelligence without compassion remains mere computation.
He highlighted critical global workforce shortages, citing World Health Organization projections of a 10 million health worker deficit by 2030. In the WHO African Region, the current workforce meets just 43 per cent of demand, with nations like Ghana having only three radiologists per million people. Meanwhile, 2.2 billion people remain offline globally, further widening inequalities.
To address these gaps, Dr. Lau pointed to practical solutions, including portable AI medical-imaging units developed in China weighing under 25 kg. Deployed in rural Kyrgyzstan, now delivering rapid tuberculosis screenings for up to 400 patients per day, with each scan completed in just 15 seconds.
To support global capability building, Dr. Lau highlighted that China’s frontier AI models are “open-weight” and can be downloaded and deployed at a fraction of the cost. He also noted key international initiatives, including the World AI Cooperation Organisation (WAICO) — the world’s first intergovernmental organisation dedicated to AI cooperation, headquartered in Shanghai. He further cited the WAIC Chairman’s Statement, which prioritises the Global South, alongside UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, which places human rights and human dignity at the centre.
Hong Kong’s Role as a Global Hub
Dr. Lau emphasised Hong Kong’s role as a bridge for international cooperation. He highlighted the Cyberport’s Artificial Intelligence Supercomputing Centre (AISC), which is scaling up toward 3,000 petaflops, alongside the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster ranked as the world’s No. 1 Global Innovation Cluster for the second consecutive year in WIPO’s Global Innovation Index.
Echoing the Right to Development under Item 3 of the Council’s agenda, Dr. Lau concluded: “Development is not a favour granted by the strong. No child offline, no patient unseen, no nation left behind.”
Other speech: Development dignity
Dr. Lau asserted that human rights must be measured by tangible improvements in ordinary lives. Drawing a parallel between reading medical scans and evaluating human welfare, he emphasised prioritising life first, arguing that economic vitality serves as the foundational bedrock of human rights and dignity.
Highlighting Hong Kong’s stability and economic growth under “One Country, Two Systems,” Dr. Lau cited key “vital signs,” including the city’s top-tier global competitiveness rankings, leading innovation cluster status in the Greater Bay Area, and robust financial market performance. He stressed that economic opportunity empowers youth and protects the vulnerable by turning rights into lived reality.
Dr. Lau concluded by calling on the Council to favour constructive dialogue and international cooperation over confrontation and “naming-and-shaming,” urging nations to advance the global right to development together.
Other speech: From Historical Denial to Judicial Due Process: A Universal Human Rights Standard
Addressing the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Dr. Lau advocates for a unified, non-selective standard of human rights accountability. Speaking as a father, he criticises Japan for failing to provide statistical data, investigate crimes, or allow victim memorials concerning the arbitrary detention of “comfort women” eighty years after the Tokyo Trials, describing historical denial as a “second detention.” Transitioning to local governance, Dr. Lau defends Hong Kong’s legal system, asserting that its courts operate independently under the Basic Law and international covenants. Ultimately, Dr. Lau calls on the Council to operate without selectivity — urging equal commitment to prevention, investigation, and remembrance to enable genuine global healing.
Other speech: One Standard of Liberty
Addressing arbitrary detention as a global scourge, Dr. Lau called for non-selective oversight, asserting: “So we speak truth in love — and we hold ourselves to the same light.” Speaking as a father, he condemned Japan’s ongoing failure to account for or investigate its historical enslavement of “comfort women”, stating: “Every one of those girls was somebody’s daughter.” He expressed deep outrage over Tokyo’s historical revisionism, adding: “What was done to them disgusts me; the denial disgusts me more” and warning that “Denial is the second detention.”
Dr. Lau emphasised that Hong Kong remains firmly underpinned by an independent rule of law, with residents’ rights fully protected under the Basic Law and international covenants. Stressing that judicial outcomes are based on rigorous evidence rather than opinion. He concluded by urging the Council to operate without selectivity, calling for impartial oversight and a collaborative approach to international peacemaking and healing.
Other speech: IPLSA Forum “84 Seconds to Midnight”
Marking the 95th anniversary of the September 18 Incident, Dr. Lau urged Japan to fully confront its wartime legacy and halt rapid remilitarisation. He warned that historical denial poses a direct threat to regional peace. He detailed World War II atrocities, including the Nanjing Massacre, Unit 731, and the system of “comfort women”, criticising Tokyo’s historical whitewashing as a deliberate policy choice rather than a failure of memory.
He cautioned that unaddressed past aggression licenses present military expansion. Citing Japan’s doubling defence spending and Sanae Takaichi’s rhetoric that “a Taiwan contingency is a Japan contingency,” he described these trends as dangerous erosion of its peace constitution and the UN Charter. Dr. Lau called on Tokyo to abandon historical revisionism, accept postwar outcomes, and re-embrace peaceful diplomacy. He emphasised that “those who cannot face history should not be trusted with missiles,” and warned that “a nation that rewrites its past is rehearsing its future.”
Dr. Kevin Lau Chung-hang’s profile
Dr. Kevin Lau Chung-hang (MH, awarded the Medal of Honour by the HKSAR Government in 2023) is the Founder & Senior Advisor of Trinity Medical Group and Founding Convenor of the Hong Kong Youth Professional Global Advocacy (HKYPGA). He takes deep interest in the development of medical affairs in Hong Kong. It is shown in his contribution being the Vice-President cum Chairman of Membership Subcommittees of the HKU Medical Alumni Association, Honorary Treasurer of the Association of Private Medical Specialists of Hong Kong, Member of the Medicine and Health Committee, Member of the Hospital Governing Committee of Tung Wah Hospital & Tung Wah Eastern Hospital and TWGHs Fung Yiu King Hospital and Council Member of the Hong Kong Chinese Medical Association Limited, Council for the Promotion of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Cooperation, Co-Founder of Hong Kong Alliance of Integrated Medicine Against Covid and Member of Expert Advisory Board of Healthy Matters. Lau has been recently appointed as the Community Service Advisor of The Life Underwriters Association of Hong Kong and the Honorary Medical Advisor of Junior Police Officers’ Association.
Dr. Lau is an active member of several governmental and medical bodies. He currently serves as a member of the Social Workers Registration Board, Vice-convenor of the Working Group on Child Protection and Promotion of the Commission on Children, Industry Advisory Committee on General Business to Insurance Authority, Youth Development Committee (Action Group on Youth Development Fund and Programmes and Action Group on Youth Wellness), Member of Appeal Panel (Housing) of the Housing Bureau and Member of Working Group on Promotion of Family Harmony of the Central and Western District. He is also the Member of Honorary Advisors and Corporate Volunteering sub-committees, Member of the Community Care Fund Task Force, He was the ex-Non-official Member cum Convenor of Working Group on Collaboration and Promotion in Women’s Commission, ex-Non-official Member of Commission on Poverty, ex-Member of the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund Task Force, ex-Non-official Member of Steering Committee of the Child Development Fund, the ex-Member of Committee on Promotion of Breastfeeding of Food and Health Bureau and ex-Non-Official Member of Working Group on Oral Health and Dental Care.
To grant wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions around the world, Lau serves as the Board Director cum Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee of Make-A-Wish International (MAWI), he was also the Honorary Advisor and ex. Chairperson of Make-A-Wish (Hong Kong and Macau). As a passionate believer in contributing to the community, Dr. Lau is the Deputy General Secretary of One Country Two Systems Youth Forum, the Advisor of Our Hong Kong Foundation, Co-Founder of the Hong Kong Coalition, Vice-Treasurer cum Chairperson of the Professional Services Committee of the Y.Elites Association, Council Member of Hong Kong Federation of Professions, Council member of the Chinese Young Entrepreneurs’ Association (Hong Kong), Member of Heilongjiang Youth Federation, Vice-Chairman of Hong Kong – Guangdong Youth Exchange Promotion Association, Council Member of the Federation of Hong Kong and Beijing Associations, 15th Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Yangpu District, Shanghai, Deputy Director of the Professionals Committee of the Hong Kong CPPCC Youth Association, Member of Hong Kong Youth Exchange Promotion United Association, Elder of Island Evangelical Community Church, Honorary Advisor and Honorary Member of Rotary Club of Hong Kong Sunrise, and Director of Character Education Foundation.