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"We see no legal justification whatever for repealing Sections 2, 3 and 4 of the Bill of Rights Ordinance(BORO). These provisions are fully consistent with the Basic Law and do not give the BORO a status superior to the Basic Law.

"We would also regard it as extremely damaging to repeal the Public Order Ordinance and the Societies Ordinance and to reinstate the two old ordinances which we believe to be inconsistent with the International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

"It is hard to reconcile this with the provisions of the Basic Law which provide for the continued application of the ICCPR to Hong Kong after 1997.

"We hope that these misguided recommendations are not adopted as this would only send a most worrying signal to the people of Hong Kong and the international community."

End

Youngsters recognised for outstanding volunteer services

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Forty-four young volunteers were awarded scholarships in recognition of their contributions to the Summer Youth Programme(SYP).

At the Summer Youth Programme Scholarship Presentation Ceremony today (Sunday), 44 SYP volunteers aged 15 to 26 were awarded scholarships to join either a 18-day Outward Bound Training Course or a study tour to Kagoshima, Japan.

Of the 44 awardees, 33 are students and 11 are clerical staff, engineers, technicians and advertising professionals.

One of the awardees, 20-year-old Chan Hak-lun, is particularly pleased with the recognition. Mr Chan was diagnosed to be of low intelligence and suffered from autism in primary one and was admitted to study in a special school. With his perseverance and his determination to excel, he attended a government evening institute to keep up with the normal grammar school's curriculum.

With an intelligence score of 90, he is continuing his studies at a vocational training centre for the disabled.