8
Macao: Strengthening Human Rights Safeguards
continuation of monitoring and reporting procedures required under the Covenant. These two inseparable aspects are discussed further below.
In order for the ICCPR and the other international human rights instruments currently applicable to Macao to apply after 1999, two things are necessary: that these instruments be effectively recognized now as part of Macao's domestic law; and that international monitoring procedures and monitoring bodies covering Macao before 1999 continue to do so after the Macao Basic Law enters into effect. Both of these criteria must be fulfilled to ensure that the same level of human rights safeguards as currently guaranteed to the people of Macao is to be maintained under the Basic Law.
In view of these criteria Amnesty International recommends that the ICCPR be incorporated into Macao's domestic law by explicit reference to it in the Basic Law. The Draft Basic Law should be revised to reaffirm that the substantive and procedural commitments contained in the ICCPR relating to the human rights of people in Macao are a part of the law of the Macao SAR and will be implemented through all governmental entities of the Macao SAR, including the courts.
While Amnesty International considers it important that the provisions of the Covenants be fully incorporated into domestic legislation or constitutions, such incorporation is not a substitute for the mandatory system of international supervision set forth in the Covenants. A number of states have incorporated provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Covenants in their constitutions and other laws, but this incorporation in itself does not guarantee adequate protection of those rights.
The Covenants and other human rights treaties ratified by Portugal should already be considered to be a part of the law of Macao. Nonetheless, it would be desirable to reconfirm that status by specific reference to the ICCPR and other international human rights treaties in the Draft Basic Law. Such specific language would partly fulfil the promise of the Joint Declaration that "the laws currently in force in Macao shall remain basically unchanged".
Article 40 of the Draft Basic Law of Macao should be amended to ensure the continued applicability to Macao of the international human rights treaties which currently apply. Article 40 of the Draft Basic Law states:
"The provisions of international labour conventions as applied to Macao shall remain in force and shall be implemented through the laws of the Macao Special Administrative Region."
Al Index: ASA 27/01/91
Amnesty International November 1991
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