TNAG-1852-FCO40-2627-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1989 — Page 167

14 June 1989]

THE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

UNITED NATIONS HUMAN Rights CommiITTER

347

[Continued

5. Under Article 40 of the ICCPR, States Parties to the Covenant are obliged to submit a report whenever the Human Rights Committee so requests on measures adopted by them and their dependent territories to give effect to the rights recognised in the Covenant. In 1982 the Committee decided these reports should be made regularly at five yearly intervals.

6. At its third session of 1988 in November in Geneva, the Committee's deliberations included consideration of the UK's Second Report on its Dependent Territories. The meeting lasted for one and half days during which the United Kingdom delegation was questioned intensively, in particular on the application of the Covenant in Hong Kong. The meeting attracted considerable publicity.

7. The section of the Second Report covering Hong Kong was detailed, and the United Kingdom delegation was able to answer most of the further questions to the satisfaction of the Committee. Those questions for which the delegation did not have with them sufficient material to give a full reply on the spot are to be answered in the Third Report, which is due in the summer of 1989.

8. The Human Rights Committee were generally positive about the United Kingdom's report on Hong Kong. However, one area of concern to the Committee was the question of publicity for the Covenant. In response to their concerns, the Hong Kong section of the Second Report was tabled in the Legislative Council immediately after the meeting, and placed in public libraries for the information of members of the public. The Hong Kong Administration is planning further action including distribution of copies of the Covenants and information pamphlets to schools and public libraries, and work on civic education programmes. A Committee on Promoting Legal Awareness has also been formed by the Law Society together with representatives of the Bar Association and other lawyers. The Hong Kong Administration will be making suggestions to the Committee on ways to arouse the public's awareness of their civil rights and awareness of the Covenant.

APPLICATION of the CoveNANTS IN THE FUTURE

9. The Human Rights Committee expressed a particular interest in knowing how protection of human rights would be provided in Hong Hong in future. The Joint Declaration contains the following provision on the human rights Covenants:

"The provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as applied to Hong Kong shall remain in force" (Last paragraph, Section XIII, Annex I).

Article 39 of the second draft of the Basic Law, released in February 1989, states:

"The provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights... as applied to Hong Kong shall remain in force and shall be implemented through the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The rights and freedoms enjoyed by Hong Kong residents shall not be restricted unless prescribed by law. Such restrictions shall not contravene the provisions of the preceding paragraph of this Article".

10. In addition, under Section 4 of Annex II to the Joint Declaration, the means by which the British and Chinese Governments will ensure the continued application of the international rights and obligation affecting Hong Kong is a matter for consideration in the Joint Liaison Group and its sub- group on International Rights and Obligations. It is essentially a question of how best the People's Republic of China can succeed in 1997 to the treaty rights and obligations which are at present vested in or incumbent upon the UK, in respect of Hong Kong, under the Covenants.

11. Section XIII of Annex I to the Joint Declaration also specifies inter alia that “the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government shall maintain the rights and freedoms as provided for by the laws previously in force in Hong Kong, including freedom of the person, of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, to form and join trade unions, of correspondence of travel, of movement, of strike, of demonstration, of choice of occupation, of academic research, of belief, inviolability of the home, the freedom to marry and the right to raise a family freely". These provisions are reflected in Chapter III of the second draft of the Basic Law.

12. At the end of 1987 and beginning of 1988, partly in relation to issues being discussed in the drafting of the Basic Law and partly in response to calls for human rights legislation in Hong Kong, the Attorney General of Hong Kong convened a series of meetings with members of the legal profession drawn from both the public and private sectors and from academic institutions. The aim of the meetings was to provide a forum for members to discuss the subject of human rights and the form human rights legislation might take were it decided to enact such legislation.