Macao: Strengthening Human Rights Safeguards
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4.6
Committee of the National People's Congress of provisions "concerning affairs which are the responsibility of the Central People's Government ..." Article 145 states, "laws previously in force in Macao shall be adopted as laws of the Region except for those which the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress declares to be in contravention of this Law". Article 17 of the Draft Basic Law provides that the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress will have veto power if it "considers that any law enacted by the legislature of the Region is not in conformity with the provisions of this Law regarding affairs within the responsibility of the Central Authorities ..."
If "affairs within the responsibility of the Central People's Government" is interpreted expansively, the combination of those provisions would allow for the Standing Committee of the Central People's Government to retain a right of interpretation and veto power over all legislation of the Macao SAR. Those provisions could pose an additional risk of undercutting the guarantees of fundamental rights and freedoms found elsewhere in the Draft Basic Law.
Amnesty International recommends that Article 43 of the Draft Basic Law be amended to incorporate the relevant provisions of Article 4 of the ICCPR in order to guarantee that the right to life, the right to be protected from torture and ill- treatment, the non-retroactivity of laws and the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion may never be curtailed in any circumstances whatsoever.
In revising the Draft Basic Law for Macao, the Drafting Committee may wish to benefit from the experience of the drafters of the Basic Law for Hong Kong, which will also be a Special Administrative Region of the PRC. The first Draft Basic Law for Hong Kong published for solicitation of opinions in April 1988 contained a general limitations clause nearly identical to Article 43 of the Macao Draft Basic Law. During the period for solicitation of opinions concerning the Draft Basic Law for Hong Kong, Amnesty International and many Hong Kong residents raised similar concerns in regard to the limitations clause as are raised in this memorandum. Amnesty International was pleased to note that the Basic Law Drafting Committee for Hong Kong removed the separate limitations clause and provided, instead, that rights and freedoms could only be restricted to the extent permitted by the ICCPR.
Provisions concerning a state of emergency
Article 18 of the Draft Basic Law states that if the National People's Congress Standing Committee decides that the Macao SAR is in a state of emergency due to a declared state of war or "by reason of turmoil within the Macao SAR which endangers national unity or security and is beyond the control of the government of the region", the central
Amnesty International November 1991
Al Index: ASA 27/01/91