Bill of Rights
6.
A Bill of Rights for Hong Kong was introduced into the Legislative Council on 25 June last year. It is shortly expected to receive its second reading and to become law
later in 1991. The aim of the Bill is to give clear effect in a single local law to the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights as applied to Hong Kong. Once the Bill has been passed, anyone who believes his rights under the
Covenant have been infringed will be able to seek redress in
the local courts. The Joint Declaration and the Basic Law
provide for the continued application of the Covenant to
Hong Kong after 1997.
Democracy
But
7. When the Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed in
1984, there were no elected members of Hong Kong's
Legislative Council (LegCo). Now 26 members, almost half
the total, are indirectly elected. In February 1988 the
Hong Kong Government announced that 10 directly-elected seats would be introduced in the 1991 LegCo elections. it became clear, particularly since the events of June 1989 in China, that a growing number of politically conscious people in Hong Kong wanted to see a more rapid rate of
progress.
8.
In July 1989 the Executive and Legislative Councils (OMELCO) proposed that one third of LegCo should be directly elected in 1991 and that there should be no less than 50%
directly elected members by 1995. These proposals went beyond the provisions in the second draft of the Basic Law which provided for 18 directly elected seats in 1997.
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