United Nations Human Rights Committee
5. Under Article 40 of the ICCPR, States Parties to the Covenant
are obliged to submit a report whenever the Human Rights Committee
so requests on measures adopted by them and their dependent
territories to give effect to the rights recognised in the Covenant.
In 1982 the Committee decided these reports should be made regularly
at five yearly intervals.
6. At its third session of 1988 in November in Geneva, the
Committee's deliberations included consideration of the UK's
Second Report on its Dependent Territories. The meeting lasted for
one and a half days during which the United Kingdom delegation was
questioned intensively, in particular on the application of the Covenant in Hong Kong. The meeting attracted considerable
publicity.
7.
The section of the Second Report covering Hong Kong was detailed, and the United Kingdom delegation was able to answer most
of the further questions to the satisfaction of the Committee.
Those questions for which the delegation did not have with them sufficient material to give a full reply on the spot are to be
answered in the Third Report, which is due in the summer of 1989.
8. The Human Rights Committee were generally positive about the
United Kingdom's report on Hong Kong. However, one area of concern to the Committee was the question of publicity for the Covenant.
In response to their concerns, the Hong Kong section of the Second Report was tabled in the Legislative Council immediately after the
meeting, and placed in public libraries for the information of
members of the public. The Hong Kong Administration is planning further action including distribution of copies of the Covenants and information pamphlets to schools and public libraries, and work on civic education programmes. A Committee on Promoting Legal Awareness has also been formed by the Law Society together with
representatives of the Bar Association and other lawyers.
Kong Administration will be making suggestions to the Committee on
ways to arouse the public's awareness of their civil rights and
awareness of the Covenant.
The Hong