or persons acting on their behalf could seek to impose these duties on private persons in Hong Kong using the BOR.
Comment
As explained, the government cannot sue under the BOR. Article 18 (2) and Annex III to the Basic Law set out exhaustively those national laws which are to be applied in HK. The PRC Constitution is not included. If Mr Lester merely means that the PRC may disregard the law, that is self-evident.
5. As for Mr Lester's more general recommendations (see para 3 above), it seems unlikely that HKG will wish to change the Bill on account of them, nor do I see any good reason why they should do so. The response to each point is likely to be:
(i) HKG has decided for good policy reasons that the BOR
should be comprehensive and therefore bind private persons as well as public, where appropriate;
(ii)
it is intended that there should be a range of possible remedies available;
(iii) inclusion of Articles 2(2) and (3) ICCPR would be otiose,
since the BOR itself fulfills the functions set out in those Articles.
M Banett
Jill Barrett