CCPR/C/58/Add.6 page 120
similar screening measures as part of a Comprehensive Plan of Action endorsed at the International Conference on Indo-Chinese refugees held in Geneva in June this year. At the Geneva conference, the international community agreed that those boat people who met the criteria for refugee status should be resettled overseas. Resettlement places in the West were pledged for all refugees. But it was also agreed that all those who were not refugees should return to their country of origin, as they had no prospect of resettlement in the West. The British and Hong Kong Governments have made clear that the arrangements for those who return to Viet Nam should include safeguards that they will be treated properly on return and that their reintegration into Viet Nam society will be carefully monitored.
Article 10
Paragraph 3
45. The Rehabilitation of Offenders Ordinance will be subject to a detailed public review this year, with the aim of extending the range of sentences covered by the Ordinance. The effect of this amendment will be to allow for the rehabilitation of a larger number of ex-offenders.
Article 14
Paragraph 4
46.
Magistrates may now refer to a panel, the Young Offenders Assessment Panel, for advice before passing sentence on young offenders.
The Panel, comprising representatives from the Social Welfare Department and the Correctional Services Department, considers detailed reports on the offender in question and makes a recommendation on sentencing, having regard to the need to promote the rehabilitation of the offender.
Article 17
47. At the meeting to discuss the United Kingdom's second report on its dependent territories, members of the Human Rights Committee raised a number of supplementary questions concerning the right of privacy. The United Kingdom delegation replied to some of these questions immediately and undertook to answer in writing those for which it did not have sufficient information at the time.
48. The first question, to which only an interim reply was given, concerned data protection: in particular what kind of personal data could be stored in computers and who could hold such information (CCPR/C/SR.857, para. 31).
49. In Hong Kong, while there are no restrictions on the type of personal information which may be stored in computers, there are safeguards covering who should have access to personal information held in government computers. There are several ordinances which restrict the transfer of personal information to other departments or bodies. The Inland Revenue Ordinance, for instance, makes provision in section 4 for official secrecy in the handling of an individual's personal affairs. Where safeguards are not written into law, various levels of access security have been created in departments with large
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.