Mr Ric
Ricketts, HKD
Reference
Mr Bursten Miss Samy 612
Yours
We shd fell HK.
M
6/x
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL IN HONG KONG
1.
When you sought our advice on Amnesty International's own rules of behaviour, I replied that local sections were prevented from commenting on the local scene. You reported this in your telno 2034 to Hong Kong, responding to the Governor's enquiry in his telno 3587. I undertook to raise Ms Kilpatrick's behaviour with Ian Martin, Secretary General of Amnesty International.
2.
Having failed to bump into him at a couple of social occasions, I telephoned him yesterday. Without mentioning Ms Kilpatrick's name or the precise circumstances, I put the point to him interogatively about the Hong Kong section's activities. He confirmed that the general rule was as we understood it, but said that there was an exception for refugees. When I asked how this came to be, he attempted rather unsuccessfully to explain. One justification was that the local section may simply be publicising a line decided centrally (ie by the International Secretariat in London). Another was the that issue of the refugees' welfare was really connected with their country of origin, meaning that the Hong Kong section was not really acting on a "local" subject. When I pressed him on this, Martin said that there would be a distinction between commenting on asylum procedures and on conditions of detention, implying that the first would be proper subject for a local section. I asked if conditions of detention were therefore not a proper subject: he backed away from agreeing.
3.
We left it at that. The exchange was entirely good humoured, but Martin was in no doubt that my queries amounted to a polite protest. It would have been counterproductive to have pressed harder, since Amnesty International count it a major success to get a government rattled. It is also par for the course that Martin defended his organisation without the slightest indication that something might be adrift the inconsistency of his arguments spoke for themselves.
4.
:
I am sorry though that my initial advice was misleading. I hope that this has not caused you or Hong Kong any embarrassment. My impression is nonetheless that Amnesty International are playing fast and loose with their own guidelines, having in mind perhaps the unusual
CODE 18-77
LNJABW