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likely that individuals will be detained as prisoners of conscience. first Draft Basic Law also included a general limitations provision which could be used to undermine all the other human rights protections.
Amnesty International suggested that these deficiencies could be overcome by redrafting and adding specific provisions. Moreover, they could be resolved through incorporating the two Covenants on Human Rights by reference, and through providing that the Covenants are a part of the law of the HKSAR which shall be implemented both through legislation and by action of the judicial organs of the HKSAR.
Amnesty International noted that even the most generously drafted guarantees for fundamental human rights would be of little worth if they could not be enforced effectively by the courts. Hence, Amnesty International stressed the importance of giving the courts of the HKSAR the power to review the compatibility of any legislation with the rights and freedoms guaranteed in the Basic Law.
7. HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE REVISED DRAFT BASIC LAW
Though the revised Draft Basic Law of February 1989 improved the human rights protections of the first draft, some provisions remained that did not rise to the minimum standard set forth in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The areas of concern included: inadequate protection against the detention of prisoners of conscience; an unclear provision regarding lawmaking power to prohibit acts of treason, secession, sedition or theft of state secrets, which could undermine other rights; the omission of a prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, other than torture; the lack of an adequate, affirmative protection of the right to life including the asssurance that Hong Kong's current policy of not carrying out death sentences will continue after 1997.
The revised Draft Basic Law modified the general limitations provision about which Amnesty International had expressed concern. However, the revised Draft Basic Law included a provision on a state of emergency that allows the Government of the People's Republic of China to decree the "application of the relevant national laws in the Region". Amnesty International was concerned that the vague and sweeping language of that provision might be used to suspend many of the fundamental rights and freedoms otherwise guaranteed by the Basic Law. Amnesty International recommended protecting some fundamental rights as nonderogable, and strictly limiting the application of the provision, as provided for in Article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
8. CONCERNS ABOUT AN ADDITION TO THE BASIC LAW
The Basic Law was adopted by the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China in April 1990, with relatively few changes from the provisions described above, but with one important addition: Article 23 of the adopted Basic Law, which gave the HKSAR the power to enact laws prohibiting treason, sedition, subversion and theft of state secrets, included an important addition allowing the HKSAR to:
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