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It quoted people who were familiar with local laws as saying that although the two covenants did not have direct legal effect in the territory, and although provisions of the covenants did not form part of the HK laws, the local laws had already incorporated to a certain extent some provisions of the covenants.
Some legal professionals indicated that the enactment of legislation to safeguard residents's rights would not necessarily mean that the legislature would confer direct legal effect on these international covenants. They believed that the two international covenants on human rights could be more effectively implemented if they were incorporated in the Basic Law. They said that such a move was not entirely without precedents, as the covenants were part of ordinary International agreements and it was common for international agreements to be applied to national laws.
The future Bill of Rights would set out HK people's rights and freedoms and would be given constitutional status, so that it would not be infringed by any law passed by the legislature.
It was
believed that the purpose of enacting a Bill of Rights was to forestall power abuse by the legislature and human rights abuse. Bill of Rights was to be interpreted by the SAR courts themselves,
The
Legal experts believed that since the provisions of the two covenants on human rights were internationally recognised and were written in legal language with Chinese versions, there should be no difficulties in writing them into a Bill of Rights for the future SAR. They said that the European Court of Human Rights could provide the future SAR with adequate precedents to serve as reference for interpreting the Bill of Rights. They also believed that even if the SAR courts were asked to interpret the legislature, it would not encounter any problem.
BLCC Members
BLCC member and member of the HK General Chamber of Commerce Helmut Sohmen said in a letter to the BLDC that the Bill of Rights, which was to be enacted in HK, should be properly safeguarded like international agreements, Sing Tao Jih Pao reported.
He said that the planned Basic Law Committee should be given decision-making power instead of an advisory role. He urged that an official English version of the Basic Law should be published. On the stationing of Chinese troops in HK, he said that the troops should not be mobilised without the request of the SAR Government. Mr Sohmen indicated that the chamber was in support of both the "4-4-2" model and the Omelco consensus.
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