1992-11-03 10:47 BRITISH EMBASSY BERN
Note No: 89
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Her Britannic Majesty's Embassy present their compliments to the Federal Department of Justice and Police and with reference to the Department's Note no B 83486 Ti/Stx-35- of 16 October 1992 have the honour to communicate the following:
Requisitions by Hong Kong for the surrender of fugitive offenders from Switzerland are regulated by the provisions of the Treaty signed at Berne on 26 November 1880, as amended by further Conventions dated 29 June 1904 and 19 December 1934. That treaty makes no provision for the Requested Party to refuse surrender if guarantees such as those requested in the present
case are not furnished.
It is nevertheless understood that the Department's concerns relate to the conditions of imprisonment or detention in Hong Kong both before and after 1997. The Hong Kong authorities believe the following will constitute a sufficienti
reassurance in this regard
The Sino-British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong of 1984 (an international treaty registered at the United Nations in accordance with the Charter) guarantees <} very high degree of autonomy to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region when the People's Republic of China resumes the exercise of sovereignty on 1 July 1997. Existing laws and the judicial system will be maintained and it will be for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Legislature to make amendments to those laws. Resumption of the exercise of sovereignty by the PRC whil
have no effect on the existing prison system.
The Chinese have alieidy «greed to the continuation beyond 1997 of bilateral agreements signe: by Hong Kong which
contain the usual clauses
the 1:
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persons extradited under them.