CONFIDENTIAL
Mr Crowe PLANNING STAFF
HUMAN RIGHTS: HONG KONG
General Observations
1.
Hong Kong is a Crown Colony and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs is responsible to Parliament for the Government of Hong Kong. The Constitution is contained in Letters Patent and Royal Instructions issued to the Governor of Hong Kong. The Governor has wide powers under the Constitution, including the power to make laws for the "peace, order and good government of the Colony" The Crown reserves the power of disallowance in respect of all Ordinances enacted in Hong Kong and to legislate for the Colony by Order-in-Council. The UK Parliament also has power to legislate for Hong Kong by Act of Parliament. In practice, no post-war British Government has exercised the power to legislate for Hong Kong.
Right No.
(i) Persons suspected of involvement
in espionage and sabotage activities may be detained without trial, usually before being deported, under the
Immigration Ordinance. The largest
proportion of those detained are Kuomintang agents from Taiwan.
(ii) Torture.
Rating Suggested
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There have been no reported instances of torture and officers in HKD who
have visited prisons and police stations in Hong Kong have not seen any evidence that it is practised.
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(iii) Slavery.
There is no slavery in the classical sense but there have been reported cases of young children being forced to work by their parents in order to supplement family incomes, and of young girls being forced into prostitution.
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(iv) Freedom of speech.
The Hong Kong Government own their own broadcasting station, through which they can put forward the government view on matters of public
/interest
CONFIDENTIAL
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