XN000022-1996-02-08 — Page 2

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Views invited on UN treaty

The Government has invited the views of the Legislative Council, non- government organisations and other interested parties on a supplementary report on Hong Kong under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

In October 1995, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) considered the fourth periodic report on Hong Kong under ICCPR. In its concluding observations, the Committee asked that a brief further report be submitted by May 31 for examination in the Autumn of this year.

This report should, the Committee asked, cover new developments pursuant to the recommendations in its concluding observations and the statement by its Chairman.

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In 1994, the Government undertook that before making submissions to the UK - it would give the Legislative Council, non-government organisations and other interested parties a formal opportunity to express their views on the state of implementation in Hong Kong of the various UN covenants and conventions applying to the territory.

Accordingly, letters have been issued to the LegCo Secretariat today (Thursday), inviting views in respect of the supplementary report.

A government spokesman said the Hong Kong Government would prepare a draft submission to the United Kingdom.

"To enable the Government to take into account views expressed during the drafting of its contribution to the UK Government's report - and to meet the deadline for submission to the United Nations comments will need to reach the Government by March 8 this year.

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"To facilitate comments, the Government has prepared an outline of topics which it intends to include in the draft report. The outline includes an annex containing the UNHRC's recommendations and the Chairman's statement," the spokesman said.