of the police and law enforcement There has been concern that some entry which are given to the police law enforcement agencies can be exercised by them without a warrant from a judge or a magistrate. The new right to privacy may outweigh the public order considerations underlying these powers.
On balance we recommend that, notwithstanding the potential problems identified in paragraph 12 above, the government should be bound by Article 14.
Implications of replacing "citizen" with "person with a right of abode" in Article 21
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nationality.
At the Council's meeting on 10 July, Members felt that the concept of "citizenship" was inappropriate in the context of the existing opportunities for Hong Kong residents to participate in public life irrespective of their After 1997 the provisions of Article 24 of the Basic Law, taken together with provisions in Chapter IV on political structure, would determine the eligibility of persons in Hong Kong to participate in public life and the concept of "citizenship" would serve no useful purpose in this context.
It was suggested that a more meaningful criterion would be whether a person in Hong Kong had established a right of abode.
15
of to
If the word "citizen" were to be replaced by a form words which limited the right to participate in public life persons with a right of abode in Hong Kong, there would be a departure from the text of the ICCPR. Another consequence of using the "right of abode" test would be that it would be necessary to refer to the Immigration Ordinance (Chapter 115) under which the categories of such persons could be enlarged or reduced by amendments to the Ordinance. A further problem is that it would result in a reduction in the rights of British Citizens in Hong Kong who do not have a right of abode here.
16
However, the use of the word "citizen" could cast doubt on whether the political rights of a substantial sector of our community, i.e. those who are not BDTCS, would be fully protected.
17
We therefore recommend that Article 21 be amended by inserting the words "and all persons having a right of abode in Hong Kong" after "Every citizen".