XN000022-1995-11-16 — Page 2

Governor's question-and-answer session in LegCo

The following is the transcript of the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten's question-and-answer session at the Legislative Council today (Thursday):

Mr Lee Wing-tat (in Chinese): Mr Governor, a question in relation to the UN ICCPR and the report submitted to the UN Committee; we asked that previously. Now, the Chinese Government has repeatedly said that she is not a signatory to the covenant and therefore she has no obligation to submit a report on behalf of Hong Kong; and the UK Government seems to think that the Chinese Government does have that responsibility. And I believe the difference in opinion will continue, and so what can be done to really make sure that a report will be submitted to the UN after 1997? This is important for the protection of human rights.

Governor: It isn't just the British Government who believes that there is an obligation to continue to report on compliance with the Covenants, it is also the UN Human Rights Committee itself. I think it is worth recalling that during this sitting of the UN Human Rights Committee the Chairman made a clear statement about the obligations to report and he cited two particular reasons for that conclusion. The first was a jurisprudential reason, based on the examples of the CIS States and Yugoslavia. The second was a reason lodged at the heart of the Joint Declaration. So let us make this point absolutely plain: there is no doubt whatsoever about the reporting obligation. The only doubt is whether China will continue to decline to accept that obligation or whether Chinese officials will recognise it.

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Now, it is our hope and I think the hope of the community, that the reporting obligation will be implemented. We have, through the JLG, for example, tried to be as helpful as possible to Chinese officials and ministers have done the same and we have pointed out how at present Britain discharges its reporting obligation, so that China can see how - and it is one way of proceeding how it could proceed similarly after 1997. And the UN Human Rights Committee has made it clear that it would be happy to accept reports from China. We will continue to stress the importance of the reporting obligation at every level - ministerial, JLG, and through other contacts as well - and we will, of course, have to say, in the further report that we have undertaken to give to the UN Human Rights Committee next summer, we will of course say whether we have been able to make any progress with Chinese officials on this.