SECRET
(a) There is already provision for the existing rights and freedoms of Hong Kong people to be continued in their entirety. Section XIII of
Annex 1 to the Joint Declaration ensures continued application to Hong Kong of the two international covenants. These rights and
freedoms exist for the most part in the
common law or ordinances, and any attempt to
codify or catalogue these
be rights would
more likely to limit them than to preserve or
extend them.
(b) Any attempt to introduce a "Bill of Rights" would create endless scope for disputes
regarding the apparent limitations
on
freedoms that are generally accepted in any
democratic society.
11. For these reasons as well as those stated in paragraph 6 above, it would be best if the Basic Law gave the force of law in Hong Kong to the two covenants insofar as they are at present applied to Hong Kong and to the extent that they are capable of having that effect. This might be done by a simple sentence along the following lines:
"The provisions of the International Covenant Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
as applied to Hong
shall continue to Hong Kong, implemented in the Hong Kong SAR.
專聾
be
law of Hong
Thus the covenants would become part of the Kong as well as being treaties applying to Hong Kong.
GROD TAM