Telephone 01-
HKG 380
RECEIVED IN 200
RESH
RY
10 JUL 1990
FIL
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
Mr S L Cornish
14 High West
142 Pokfulam Road
Hong Kong
Your reference
WINAEB
Our reference
9 July 1990
Date
Dear Mr. Cornish,
attached.
Thank you for your letter of 19 June to the Secretary of State about the death penalty in Hong Kong. I have been asked to reply.
You refer to the draft Hong Kong Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights follows closely the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and is indeed intended to give clear effect in local law, as applied to Hong Kong. The Bill reproduces almost word for word its provisions on the 'right of life'. Retention of the death penalty in Hong Kong is not however inconsistent with the ICCPR, as Article 6(2) of the ICCPR makes clear.
You are right when you say that all death sentences in Hong Kong have been commuted for many years (the last execution was carried out in November 1966). It is however clear from surveys and from the news expressed at every level of society that the great majority of people in Hong Kong would have preferred to see the death penalty carried out.
There has never been any significant local pressure for the death penalty to be abolished. The Hong Kong authorities have also
advised that there has been no significant change in public opinion following last years events in China although they do keep the matter under careful review.
Gill Cogan
GJ Coglin (Ms)
Hong Kong Department
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