ICCPR, the status of this Bill is unknown after 1997. Nonetheless, an independent and objective international supervision of human rights practice is indispensable.
In 1991, during the meeting of the Human Rights Committee in New York, many of the members expressed concern on the application of the provisions of the Covenant after Hong Kong sovereignty reverts to China in 1997. It was agreed that this issue warranted serious consideration.
Nevertheless, when the issue regarding the application of the reporting systems was again raised by several councillors at the Legco Meeting held on May 26, 1993, the Attorney General's answers reminded to be extremely evasive. When the AG was challenged by a councillor with a quote by Mr. Douglas Hurd that " The last report on human rights will be in '94 and after that it will be a matter for China, and he cannot guarantee that China will do the same but the British Government will be willing to follow this up.", the AG simply replied that it was not appropriate for him to comment on what the Foreign Secretary has said. It is obvious that very little progress has been achieved so far since 1991.
A number of proposals have been made by the academics and local groups regarding the continued application of the ICCPR, including the accession by China and accession by Hong Kong. Regarding the former one, as China always stress that human rights is an internal affair and greatly objected to international adjudicating body, the possibility for China to accede the covenant is very low. Concerning the latter proposal, as the covenant is open to accession only by sovereign states and specialized agencies, and the duty to submit periodic reports is imposed only on state parties, Hong Kong cannot accede to the covenant in its own capacity now or in future.
We urge the international community and the British government to take immediate actions to settle the matter before 1997.
7. Human Rights education
In the previous paragraphs, we have mainly focused on the applicability of international instruments in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, as pointed out by Mr. Bruno Simma (Member, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) that "respect for humans had to grow out of the political and legal cultural of a country in order to be lasting. In that regard, the main purpose of the adoption of international human rights instruments had been to strengthen, secure, reinforce and encourage domestic implementation of human rights." 3
Education plays a significant role to facilitate the implementation process.
3United Nation: Workshop on international human right instrument and reporting obligations: Preparation of reports to United Nations human rights treaty bodies report. p.7
14
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.