PRC concerning the need to review the
the Bill of Rights
Ordinance in 1997 and delaying the establishment of the Final
Court of Appeal for Hong Kong were also sources of concern.
The conference was attended by the four members of a
mission of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
(Geneva) established to report on human rights and
self-determination in Hong Kong. The members of the Mission
are Sir William Goodhart (UK),
(UK), Mr John Dowd QC (Australia),
Professor Hans-Heiner Kühne (Germany) and Raja
and Raja Aziz Addruse
(Malaysia). Immediately following the conclusion of the
conference the mission embarked upon a busy round of
consultations in Hong Kong concerning the subject matters of
its mandate. It is expected to report later in 1991 to the
Executive Committee of the ICJ. It is likely that, as
30 June 1997 approaches, lawyers throughout the Commonwealth
of Nations and beyond will become more closely involved in
the events of Hong
of Hong Kong and concerned in the provision of
assistance to the judges and other lawyers who remain there
determined to preserve human rights, an independent judiciary
and respect for the rule of law after 1997. The hope was
expressed by Justice Kirby that Hong Kong after 1997 might
act as a bridgehead to take these universal ideas into China
itself. If this seemed an uncertain prospect in 1991, the
rapid changes in Central and Eastern Europe and in the Soviet
Union in recent years gave some cause for hope.
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