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2.
Ministers need to take a view on:
(a) whether the Hong Kong Government should be
authorised to proceed with the proposed amendments; and
(b) if so, how to handle the presentational aspects.
Recommendation
3. I recommend that Ministers agree to authorise the changes proposed by Hong Kong but that we should try to reduce the risk of damaging publicity by:
referring in general terms to the forthcoming amendments at the UN Human Rights Committee hearings so that we cannot
subsequently be accused of bad faith; and
presenting our case as effectively as we can to domestic and international public opinion.
SEAD concur.
We have consulted UND and Legal Advisers. Legal Advisers consider that some of the proposed amendments make it slightly more likely that HMG could be found to be in breach of the ICCPR although others would be a slight improvement on the existing position.
Background
Incompatibility of Hong Kong's existing law and practice
with the ICCPR
4.
In 1983, Ministers decided to support Hong Kong's proposals to introduce legislation to authorise detention of all Vietnamese boat people on arrival, although FCO Legal Advisers had advised at the time that this policy was
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