20
Macao: Strengthening Human Rights Safeguards
be elected for all permanent residents of Macao over the age of 21. Article 25 of the ICCPR, however, affords greater protection for those persons who wish to "take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives". Hence, the Draft Basic Law protects only the act of voting while the Covenant protects direct participation in public affairs. The lack of an explicit protection for persons who wish to engage in a broader range of legitimate political activity represents an important shortcoming in the guarantees of freedom of expression in the Draft Basic Law.
Although Article 42 of the Draft Basic Law states that "The interests of residents of Portuguese descent in Macao shall be protected by the Macao SAR in accordance with the law, and their customs and cultural traditions shall be respected", there is no provision in the Draft Basic Law equivalent to the broader protection for minorities found in Article 27 of the ICCPR. The Covenant's Article 27 provides,
"In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to use their own language.
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Amnesty International recommends that Article 42 of the Draft Basic Law be amended to protect explicitly the rights of members of the Portuguese minority and of all other ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities in Macao in conformity with the provisions of the ICCPR.
The most troubling provision of the Draft Basic Law with regard to protection against the detention of prisoners of conscience is Article 23. The article reads:
"The Macao Special Administrative Region shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People's Government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from conducting political activities in the Region, and to prohibit political organizations or bodies of the Region from establishing ties with foreign political organizations or bodies."
The offences listed (treason, secession, sedition and theft of state secrets) may be legitimate criminal offences if legislation ensures that they are clearly defined and limited to acts that would be considered recognizable criminal offences under international standards. However, the sweeping and undefined use of terms such as treason, secession and sedition, as currently practised in the PRC, raises the concern that people in Macao
Al Index: ASA 27/01/91
Amnesty International November 1991