TNAG-2173-FCO40-3110-Hong-Kong-Bill-of-Rights-1990 — Page 140

M (90)9

CONFIDENTIAL

(b)

under

-

99

-

section 3 of

the Ordinance, the

resumption of the land described in

paragraph 6 of the memorandum, is

required for that public purpose.

A100

A BILL OF RIGHTS FOR HONG KONG: XCC (90) 28

COMMENTARY

(a) Article 22

(b)

in Public

following

of the Bill: Right to Participate

Life

There were dangers in not

precisely the wording of the

International Covenant on Civil and Political

Rights (ICCPR). It would be preferable to let

local electoral laws

identify who could

exercise such

rights.

This would most

probably be viewed by

the

courts

as

constituting

a

reasonable

restriction in

relation to Article 25 of the ICCPR.

Entrenchment of the ICCPR in the Letters

Patent was

mirror-imaging entrenchment in the

draft Basic Law.

Care should be taken not to

present either the Bill of Rights or the ICCPR

as taking precedence over

constitutional

documents such as the

Letters Patent or the

Basic Law.

CONFIDENTIAL