THE ICJ REPORT
- 2 -
The report of the International Commission of Jurists on Hong Kong,
released in April this year, raised some thought-provoking points,
including the following: -
that the people of Hong Kong have not been allowed to exercise the
right of self-determination;
that Britain should have held a referendum in Hong Kong to ascertain
the wishes of the people of Hong Kong before signing the Joint
Declaration;
that the United Kingdom has an obligation to provide the right of
abode in the U.K., or in acceptable third countries, for all Hong
Kong British Dependent Territories Citizens;
that the Joint Declaration, while creditable in other respects, is
seriously defective in failing to ensure that the Chief Executive
will be democratically elected by and democratically accountable to
the people of Hong Kong.
The ICJ Report also commented on many aspects of the Basic Law. As I am
sure you know, the Sino-British agreement provided that the policies
regarding Hong Kong stated in the Joint Declaration were to be stipulated
in a Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and that
those policies will remain unchanged for 50 years.