XN000022-1996-03-04 — Page 14

· 13 ·

"We hope that other countries around the world will follow the lead taken by the British Government and that the Chinese side will work closely with the British side to promote visa-free travel throughout the world for all Hong Kong people."

The spokesman also welcomed the guarantee given by the British Government in respect of admission and settlement for the non-Chinese ethnic minorities who would have no nationality other than British and would come under possible pressure to leave Hong Kong after 1997.

"Hong Kong Government had long recognised that non-Chinese ethnic minorities with solely British nationality represent a unique group who had particular anxieties about their own status in Hong Kong," he said.

"Their families have been in Hong Kong for many generations and generally they want to remain in Hong Kong which is their home.

"But they also need reassurances about their future."

The spokesman said the assurances given by the Prime Minister that wives and widows of ex-servicemen from Hong Kong would be granted full British citizenship discharged the debt of honour to the wives and widows of men who had fought to defend Hong Kong.

He noted that these decisions were taken after various representations from the Governor, the Executive Council, the Legislative Council and other parties concerned in the territory.

End

Government committed to promoting human rights

The Hong Kong Government's firm commitment to promoting, enhancing and protecting internationally recognised human rights has been reflected by the extension and application of human rights treaties to the territory, Principal Crown Counsel, Mr Stephen Wong, told the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva today (Monday, Geneva time).

In an opening statement at a meeting in which Hong Kong's 13th periodic report under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) was examined, Mr Wong said the Hong Kong Government had pursued this policy through

policy through legal processes, by adopting appropriate administrative measures and social programmes.