Q.18
Freeze period.
CONFIDENTIAL
Conflicts with UK G and
&
HKG
statements
that ICCPR has already been given full effect in HK?
Law
Commission
A.18 Legislation is kept constantly under review, and improvements are made from time to time (e.g on going
Reform
studies
on loitering, stop-and-search, etc.) The system in HK has worked well and HK has a good record on human rights. However there are bound to be some areas of doubt regarding the full compatibility of existing law with the Bill of Rights. This has been the experience in other territories which have enacted Bills of Rights (e.g. the Canadian Charter). A review of existing
review of existing legislation in progress. The freeze period will avoid the destabilising effects of legislative vacuums which may occur if statutory laws are found to be
be invalid, but, for practical reasons, there are substantial delays before they can be replaced. The freeze period is now limited to two years.
Q.19
A.19
-
Human rights education. What has been done and what will be done?
distributed
the second report to UNHRC to public
libraries in November 1988
distributed 10,000 bilingual copies of the
Covenants
together with explanatory leaflets to schools, libraries and the public (through DOs) in June this
year.
human rights and rule of the law a major publicity area for the Civic Education Committee in 1989-90 [1990-917).
Law Society will launch a "legal awareness campaign" in 1990-91, subject to availability of resources