TNAG-2329-FCO40-3373-Hong-Kong-contacts-with-academics-and-writers-1991 — Page 127

(c) "One must assume that the Government introduced the proposal when

it did in order to bolster sagging political confidence in the territory. This is a legitimate governmental objective and can be achieved only if the Bill becomes politically entrenched in Hong Kong. By this I mean that the system to be created by the Bill will actually touch the lives of ordinary people in Hong Kong. There are three ways in which the Bill of Rights could become a living reality in Hong Kong. They are: public education, a Human Rights Task Force, and a Human Rights Commission."

A Human Rights Task Force

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A Human Rights Task Force would have the function of "identifying any Hong Kong statute that may conflict with the Bill. This will be a massive and difficult task because all statutes and subordinate legislation will have to be scrutinised .. Tough decisions will have to be made whether or not to amend certain laws that have been identified as probably in conflict with the Bill. This will doubtless result in some internal governmental debates that the Government would prefer take place away from the public gaze. The issue for the Government here is whether secrecy will assist the process or undermine it. If ... certain departments decide to take a risk and not amend a statute, on the grounds that if no one notices then the department would still be able to use powers that contravene human rights standards, this might create a legal time bomb that could explode at a particularly inopportune time, e.g. July

66 1997."

A Human Rights Commission

"A Human Rights Commission should be created with four objectives: education, standard getting, legislative screening and dispute resolution.

(i) Education: The underlying assumption is that attitude change.

is always gradual and should be the result of persuasion rather than compulsion. Education could involve the civic, education programme, and seminars as key practical issues.

(ii) Standard Setting:

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providing

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[This would include] codes of conduct standards against which behaviour is to be judged Since the Commission [would] accumulate information about various practices, it [would be] best able, in the light of its experience, to suggest standards that [would] actually work in practice."