HONG KONG JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION
香港記者協會
SUMMARY ON THE GOVERNMENT REVIEW OF LEGISLATION
RELATING TO PRESS FREEDOM
A delegation from the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) met the Governor, Chris Patten, in August 1992, to press for the repeal or amendment of legislation considered to be a potential threat to press freedom both before and after 1997. Delegates also called for the enactment of acces S to information legislation, to ensure that the public had a right of access to most forms of government information.
The HKJA subsequently submitted a list of 17 laws to the government officials dealing with the press review, and met them on several occasions.
The government announced the results of the review in March 1993. In a news release, it announced that freedom of the press was secure under Hong Kong law. It also announced that it would amend seven laws or regulations related to the media.
The HKJA is far from happy with these findings, although it does accept that the amendment of three broadcasting laws earlier this year was a step forward. These laws allowed the government to vet and prohibit television and radio programmes.
The government is also pledging to amend a minor law on the registration of newspapers, as well as laws allowing the government to control or prohibit public entertainment and to ban the use of loudhailers without a police permit.
There are eleven laws which the government has failed to tackle, some of which could pose a serious threat to press freedom. They are as follows:
1) The 1989 Official Secrets Act, a British law which is applied to Hong Kong. This law has been much criticised in Britain for lacking any public interest or prior publication defence. It will lapse in Hong Kong in 1997, and may be replaced by a
replaced by a Chinese- style law governing the theft of state secrets. The government has pledged to consider whether to replace the British Act with a Hong Kong ordinance, but there is no timetable for this work.
2) The Emergency Regulations Ordinance and Emergency (Principal) Regulations, which allow the Governor to censor and suppress publications during an emergency. There are no safeguards on how an emergency is declared, or how long it should remain in effect.
3) The Crimes Ordinance, as it relates to treason and sedition. These concepts are defined in a broad and potentially threatening
ADDRESS: 6/F, DIAMOND MANSION,
462 LOCKHART ROAD, HONG KONG
址:香港洛克道462號鑽石大廈六字樓
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1
Affiliated to the International Federation of Journalists 本會為國際記者聯會成員
ASSOCIATE UNIONS/ 海外聯繫組織 Australian Journalists Association National Union of Journalists
(Great Britain & Ireland)
The Newspaper Guild (US & Canada) New Zealand Journalists Union
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