TNAG-2859-FCO40-4113-Application-of-the-International-Covenant-on-Civil-and-Polit-1993 — Page 12

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Under the present political system and the system designed in the Basic Law, the right of participation in the conduct of public affairs of the Hong Kong people is seriously ignored. The interests of the low socio-economic groups cannot be reflected in the policy-making process. In the long run, the freedom and rights of the Hong Kong people can only be safeguarded by a democratic government supported by people's active participation.

3.2 Freedom of Information and Expression

Freedom of information is a vital element for the functioning of an open society. Without access to information, members of the public are unable to protect their rights, to participate effectively in society to take full advantage of existing opportunities. To make government more accountable to public decisions that affect the welfare of the general public, citizens must have access to rules and procedures in the decision making process. It is also the right of the citizen to see information that the Government has collected about them. And, if the formation is wrong or misleading they have a right to correct it. In open societies, the right to information is safeguarded by standardized disclosure procedures and independent appeal channels in case information is being refused. In the case of Hong Kong much of the public information is being withheld from the public.

A survey conducted by one of our member organizations, the Society for Community Organization in 1986, has shown that 25 government departments publish annual reports, while 4 restrict access and 17 do not publish any report. On channels of information the survey showed that 16 departments have an information division, 19 public relations officers while 20 had no established channels for the public. Apart from this survey, citizens in Hong Kong have experienced situations when information is withheld even when human lives are at stake. The Hong Kong government has for example identifies dangerous boulders on the hillsides overlooking squatter areas and is keeping watch on them. This information is classified as confidential in public record and withheld from the squatters living below the boulders. The same procedure has been applied to information about dangerous slopes, investigations report on industrial accidents and studies on danger areas in industry and construction sites.

In 1992, the Hong Kong Journalists Associations, Hong Kong Branch of Justice and the Hong Kong Human Rights Commission pressed for the enactment of a Freedom of Information Legislation but was rejected. As an alternative, Britain's 1989 Official Secret Act was applied to Hong Kong to revise the obsolete 1911 OSA. The OSA is only a negative approach which serves to uplift some restrictions on the reporting of official information..

The human rights groups are also concerned about other ordinances which could be used to limit freedom of expression in the colony,such as :

1. The Film Censorship Ordinance, which has been used on several occasion to censor film material likely to "severely damage good relations with other territories",

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