KON
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STRY.
277 JUL 1990
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Ms. P. Major,
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Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Downing Street,
London,
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261
THE LEGAL SECRETARIAT TO THE LAW OFFICERS
ATTORNEY GENERAL'S CHAMBERS
ROYAL COURTS OF JUSTICE
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25 July 1990
Dear
Pam
HONG KONG BILL OF RIGHTS
Thank you very much for sending me the revised Bill and the briefing for Mr. Maude. The Attorney was grateful to see some of this briefing.
There was one point in the Exco Memoranda which puzzled me a little. There is an implication in paragraph 36 of XCC(90)100 and paragraphs 6 and 8 of XCC(90)112 that in order to implement the UN Covenant comprehensively it is necessary to impose obligations upon individuals. HMG is of course a party to the UN Covenant, but so far as I know we do not accept that the Covenant does anything other than impose obligations on States. The Hong Kong line does therefore appear to be inconsistent with the position we take over here. There is of course nothing contrary to the Covenant in imposing obligations on individuals by means of the Bill; it would,however, in my view, be inconsistent with our general position to represent this as being required by the Covenant.
I am copying this letter to Paul Fifoot, Legal Advisers, FCO.
G
E. S. WILMSHURST
dett
Mr Fifoot will reply.
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