TNAG-2177-FCO40-3114-Hong-Kong-Bill-of-Rights-1990 — Page 66

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reservations in respect of the dependent territories on ratification of the Covenants. The position in the territories cannot be treated lightly, as the United Nations devotes a great deal of attention to colonial questions. Ratification of the Covenants would involve the territories in even closer scrutiny of their internal affairs and provide the United Kingdom's critics with ready ammunition if discrepancies were found between our obligations under the Covenant and the situation on the ground." (File ref: HX 2/522/2(4), 1974)

12. The Annexes to the Report included the following additional observations:-

a) With regard to Article 3 of the ICESCR:

An obligation to conform to the Article would be a major factor in considering any proposed new legislation in the field of sex discrimination and would place new difficulties in the way of legislation which acknowledges that discrimination would remain in some fields

b) With regard to Article 26 of the ICCPR:

"Although a somewhat vague provision, the Working Group considers that it should be held to relate only to equality and non-discrimination in the administration of justice. If it were construed in this sense, it should give rise to no problems. But in a Report to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe published in May 1970 in which the rights guaranteed by the Covenant were compared with those in the European Convention on Human Rights, the Committee of Experts on Human Rights drew attention to the possibility that the Article might be interpreted as requiring equality in the substance of the law rather than in the conditions under which the law is to be administered. If this wider interpretation were to be accepted, the Article could be a potential source of difficulty, for example, in the fields of racial, religious or sex discrimination."

13. Meanwhile, the FCO sought the views of the Governors of dependent territories on the application of the two Covenants (FCO telno 12 Saving of 17 May 1974 to Belmopan and other posts concerning the ICESCR and telno 18 Saving of

5 September 1974 concerning the ICCPR). In reply, the Governor of Hong Kong submitted further statements of his Government's position on the ICESCR and ICCPR on 10 October 1974 and 25 April 1975 respectively.

14. The Governor's statement relating to the ICESCR included the following:

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