TNAG-2323-FCO40-3367-Hong-Kong-Bill-of-Rights-Vietnamese-boat-people-1991 — Page 93

CCPR/C/SR.855 page 4

LOCA

13.

Mr. FEARN (United Kingdom) said that the list of issues which his delegation had received was phrased in a general manner and the answers it had prepared related to several of the dependent territories or all of them as a whole. Not all the questions related specifically to Hong Kong and he would find it difficult to make a separate reply on each individual territory for every question. His delegation would prefer to deal with the questions seriatim, which would probably not take too long, and then to move on if necessary to a territory-by-territory examination in order to deal with points that might not have been answered fully in response to the general questions. It would be ready to continue the discussion the next morning if necessary, but would have some difficulty in doing so in the afternoon. If an extension proved necessary, it would welcome some advance warning so that it could rearrange its commitments accordingly.

14.

Introducing the second supplementary report on the 10 dependent territories administered by the United Kingdom and an update to that report (CCPR/C/32/Add.14 and Add.15), he said that he wished to apologize for its late submission and to explain the difficulties encountered in compiling it. Many members of the Committee would be familiar with the nature of the constitutional relationship between the dependent territories and the

United Kingdom. The powers over domestic matters had largely devolved upon local Governments over the years and it had therefore been impossible for the United Kingdom to gather the detailed information required to fulfil its reporting obligations under the Covenant without first requesting each individual territory to compile its own report reflecting its particular circumstances. The Committee would appreciate how difficult it had been to combine 10 reports in one. Each territory had its own legislative assembly which made its own laws according to local circumstances, priorities and perceptions. While there were common elements, there were also many differences in the legal and administrative practices of the various territories. An effort had been made to provide as complete and accurate a picture as possible, and the aim of his delegation, which included people with considerable experience of many of the dependent territories, would be to answer any further questions as completely as possible.

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15. One of the territories examined during the Committee's consideration of the initial report Belize was absent from the second report because its people had acquired their independence in 1981. In the light of the United Kingdom's commitment to self-determination and its resolve to fulfil its obligations under the Charter of the United Nations and the Covenant to the best of its ability, the United Kingdom Government had, in 1987, reviewed its policy towards its Caribbean dependent territories and Bermuda, and had concluded that it should not seek to influence opinion in the territories on the question of independence but would remain ready to respond favourably when the people clearly and constitutionally expressed their wish for such independence. That policy, which had been announced in Parliament on 16 December 1987, had been given widespread publicity in the territories concerned. The United Kingdom's aim was to ensure the good administration and economic and social development of all its dependent territories, whose reasonable needs would continue to be a first charge on its aid funds. It remained determined to discharge its obligations under the Covenant in full, even when that meant the temporary suspension of ministerial government, as had been necessary in the Turks and Caicos Islands in 1986.