Macao: Strengthening Human Rights Safeguards
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and freedoms." Indeed, the Human Rights Committee has stated that the ICCPR applies to Macao because Article 2 of that Covenant provides that a State Party will ensure its protections to all individuals "within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction".
Amnesty International considers that, under international law and despite statements to the contrary by Portuguese officials, the people of Macao currently enjoy the protection provided by the ICCPR, and its second Optional Protocol, as well as that provided by other international treaties to which Portugal is a party.
There does not appear to be any requirement in Portuguese law making the applicability of international conventions to Macao subject to their publication in the Macao Government Gazette. International commercial agreements signed by Portugal and affecting Macao, for example, are routinely considered to apply to the territory independently of their publication in the Macao Government Gazette. Nevertheless, the Portugese Government's position that the non-publication of the ICCPR in the Macao Government Gazette precludes its application to Macao maintains a degree of ambiguity.
Amnesty International recommends that the Macao authorities publish in the Macao Government Gazette the ICCPR and the other international human rights instruments to which Portugal is a party, in order to remove any ambiguity as to their current application in Macao.
By taking this action the Macao authorities would ensure that the ICCPR and other international conventions on human rights currently in force in Macao would apply unequivocally in two distinct and complementary ways: as part of the domestic law of Macao; and by enshrining in Macao law the right of the people of Macao to complain about violations of human rights under the relevant international conventions.
Procedures for international monitoring and reporting of human rights violations
Under Article 40 of the ICCPR, every State Party is obliged to submit periodic "reports on the measures they have adopted which give effect to the rights recognized [in the Covenant] and on the progress made in the enjoyment of those rights". As required by Article 40, reports by States Parties are examined by the Human Rights Committee.
The Government of the Republic of Portugal has made a declaration under Article 41 of the ICCPR accepting the competence of the Human Rights Committee to receive and consider communications by one State Party to the effect that another State Party is not fulfilling its obligations under the ICCPR. Portugal has also signed and ratified the first Optional Protocol to the ICCPR which enables the Human Rights Committee to
Amnesty International November 1991
Al Index: ASA 27/01/91
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