TNAG-1216-FCO40-1519-Extradition-treaties-between-Hong-Kong-and-other-countries-1982 — Page 162

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EXTRADITION: ESSENTIAL FACTS

1. The Ambassador reported on 21 January that the Filipinos, who recently concluded an extradition agreement with the United States, may propose a similar agreement with the UK (including Hong Kong). We have not heard this suggestion before and can only speculate as to its purposes. The Filipino interest is probably mainly in extradition from Hong Kong, particularly of fugitives suspected of violent crimes against the regime in the Phillipines. There is also traffic into Hong Kong of Filipino women for prostitution and some drugs traffic.

BILATERAL TREATIES

2. We do not enter into new and general bilateral extradition arrangements with countries whose standards of justice and prison conditions are unacceptable, and to which we would consequently not be prepared to surrender fugitives (including UK Citizens since we apply no restriction on nationality grounds). As the UK Extradition Acts are under review we do not embark on negotiations for new bilateral treaties anyway, but we should not give this as a reason to governments such as the Philppines where we see fundamental objections to the surrender of fugitives.

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