7
118
119
(18) The Chief Executive should report to but should not be made accountable to the Government of the PRC, and the Chief Executive's accountability to the legislature of the SAR should be clarified and strengthened.
(19) Article 19 of the Basic Law should be modified so as to limit the exclusion of the jurisdiction of the Hong Kong courts to defence and foreign affairs only.
(20) The power of interpreting the Basic Law in its application to the SAR and the power of deciding whether existing laws contravene the Basic Law should be transferred from the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress to the courts of Hong Kong.
(21) The Judicial Services Commission should be restored to its previous form, but with selection by five
affirmative votes.
(22) The maintenance of an independent judiciary in Hong Kong after 1997 is of the highest importance both for the preservation of business confidence and for the protection of human rights.
(23) There is an urgent need to recruit local lawyers of
ability and integrity
the bench and reduce the dependence of the bench on expatriate lawyers.
to
(24) Judges of the superior courts should be appointed with tenure to retiring age rather than fixed-term contracts.
(25) Terms of service of the judiciary (particularly in relation to housing) should be improved and judges should be allowed to return to practice after resignation from the bench.
(26) A formal system of appointing local lawyers to serve as part-time Recorders or Deputy Judges should be adopted.
(27) The agreement reached by the Joint Liaison Group on the composition of the Court of Final Appeal is contrary to the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law and is constitutionally invalid; the Court of Final Appeal itself should be allowed to determine the number and identity of foreign judges to sit as temporary members.
(28) Articles 18 and 158 of the Basic Law should be amended to confer on the Government of the SAR the exclusive power to declare a state of emergency in the SAR.
(29) The Basic Law should be amended to make it clear that
of permanent residents
the SAR are not subject to conscription.
(30) Section 5 of the Bill of Rights Ordinance should be amended to restrict the power of derogation to emergencies which threaten the life of Hong Kong.
(31) The power to extend the exemption of certain Ordinances from the Bill of Rights Ordinance for a second year should not be exercised.
(32) The permanent reservations in Sections 9 to 13 of the Bill of Rights Ordinance should be repealed and the UK should withdraw its corresponding reservations to the ICCPR.
(33) Immediate steps should be taken to identify and expressly repeal or amend existing Ordinances which are wholly or in part inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Ordinance.
(34) The Bill of Rights Ordinance is consistent with the Basic Law and its repeal or restriction after 1997 would involve a breach of the undertakings given by the Government of the PRC in the Joint Declaration.
(35) The Ordinance is likely to have a significant effect on the application of human rights ir Hong Kong and will be vigorously applied by the judiciary up to 1997.
(36) The value of the Ordinance for the protection of human
rights after 1997 will depend on
(i) the continuance of an independent judiciary
(ii) the willingness of the Government of the SAR
to abide by the decisions of the courts and
(iii) the development of a human rights culture in
Hong Kong.
(37) A strong Human Rights Commission should be set up for
the purposes of
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