then it could well be argued that, subject to the limitation falling within the permissible restrictions, any such contractual prohibition was invalid OF the dismissal unlawful (Article 16); and
the
terms of a private employment contract or other contract which limited the right to take part in demonstrations might be viewed as an infringement of the Bill (Article 17).
Article 1 of. the Bill of Rights provides that the rights recognized in the Bill shall be distinction of any
enjoyed without kind such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. The Article, read together with clause 7 as drafted, will apply to some instances of private discrimination. While Article 1 does not provide a general guarantee against discrimination individuals,
by private it can be invoked where the discrimination complained of falls within the scope of one of the specific rights listed in the Bill capable of being applied to inter-citizen relations. For example, an employer who refused to employ Australians would not, merely by virtue of that fact, have violated
Bill, because there is no general guarantee against private discrimination in employment nor does it contain a provision covering employment in general. However,
if an
employer were to adopt a policy that none of its chinese employees could take part in any public demonstrations against
Government
employees, it would right to
but did not apply the same rule to its non-chinese then this would be a violation of the Bill, because mean that employees of one race were enjoying the freedom of expression (Article 16) and freedom of assembly (Article 17) to a greater extent than employees of another race. The possible incidence of such violations through Article 1 is shown in Column II of Annex B.
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14.
The concern of the business community regarding the rights of privacy and information could be met by deferring the application to private persons of Article 14 (privacy) and the whole or part of Article 16 (freedom of opinion and expression). The Bill already does this in respect of Article
We have also suggested to the Ad НОС application
Group that of the right to seek,
receive and impart information under Article 16 could be deferred. difficult area is non-discrimination. There is a gap in the existing law in this aspect as virtually no Hong Kong law expressly prohibits discrimination of any kind.
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at
of
The most
Article 22 is directed at laws which discriminate, and discrimination by public authorities. To cater for the fear business sector that the Article may be wider in its
the