appear in a common law legal system.
has
a
This is an important new development which
particular relevance to Hong Kong. That relevance derives
from the terms of article 9 of the Basic Law. Although
the government of the PRC has always asserted an exclusive
right to provide for the future of Hong Kong and its peoples,
the Basic Law is unarguably an international treaty
between nation states asserting de jure and de facto
powers over Hong Kong. It will be important, whatever is the
fate of the Bill of Rights Ordinance and the incorporation of
the norms of the international covenants into the law of Hong
Kong, that the judges of Hong Kong, before and after 1997,
should become familiar with the new move for the utilisation
human rights law
domestic
of
international
decision-making.
in
the
The Bangalore Principles have now been followed by
Harare Declaration
51
on Human Rights.
This
Declaration reasserts the validity of the Bangalore
approach. It does so with the authority of virtually every
Chief Justice of Commonwealth Africa. Later still, the
Bangalore Principles have been reaffirmed by
Affirmation.52 At a high level meeting of
the Banjul
Commonwealth
judges in Banjul, the Gambia, the participants accepted in
their entirety the Bangalore Principles and the Harare
They acknowledged that fundamental human
Declaration.
rights and freedoms
are inherent in human kind. They
stressed the importance of complete judicial independence and
the need to assure real and effective access to the courts
for the determination of criminal charges and civil rights
and obligations by due
The Bangalore
process of law.
- 22 -
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.