the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region".
In late 1990 the colonial administration in Hong Kong
presented a draft Bill of Rights Ordinance for enactment by
the local
local Legislative Council. This is a body partly
appointed and partly elected which advises the Governor of
Hong Kong on laws for the
for the colony. The Ordinance was
eventually enacted in June 1991. Its enactment led to
protests from representatives of the PRC. They complained
that the United
United Kingdom, in the closing - stages of its
colonial administration, was altering the position of human
rights protection in Hong Kong.
Notwithstanding the
protests, the Hong Kong Letters Patent,
Patent, providing the
authority for lawmaking by the Governor of Hong Kong, were
altered on 20 May 1991 by the addition of a new paragraph.
This requires that the provisions of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as applied to Hong
Kong "shall be implemented through the laws of Hong Kong".
It further provides that "no law of Hong Kong shall be made
after the coming into operation of" the amendment to the
Letters Patent, "that restricts the rights and freedoms
enjoyed in Hong Kong in a manner which is inconsistent with
that covenant as applied to Hong Kong".
It was in this context that the conference of judges,
academics and others convened in Hong Kong. The conference
was opened by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Hong
Kong, Professor Wang Gungwu, an Australian citizen and
long-time teacher at the Australian National University.
Professor Wang made the telling point that
"Ultimately, the power to choose their governments and have a decisive say in their destiny is the only guarantee that any law to
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