TNAG-2922-FCO40-4197-Visits-and-proposed-visits-by-Alastair-Goodlad--Minister-of--1993 — Page 157

K

CONFIDENTIAL

Continued Application

機密

Annex K

of the International Covenant

on Civil and Political Rights in Hong Kong

Background

The British and

Chinese Governments have agreed in

the provisions of the

the Joint Declaration that

International

Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

as applied to Hong Kong shall remain in force in Hong Kong

after 1997 (JD 156).

This provision is reflected in

Article 39 of the Basic Law.

2.

The

the rights

under the

July 1997.

accedes to

territory.

legal effect of JD 156 is that China will assume

and obligations currently devolving on the UK

Covenant in respect of the Hong Kong SAR from 1

This is So, whether or not China separately

the Covenant in respect of the rest of her

One of the obligations contained in the Covenant

is the obligation under its Article 40 to make regular

reports to the UN Human Rights Committee. Another is the

obligation under Article 41 to deal with complaints made to

the Committee by other parties to the Covenant. Thus, from 1

July 1997 China will be obliged by the Joint Declaration to

comply with all the provisions of the ICCPR including

Articles 40 and 41.

3.

In an effort to ensure that China fully understands

the implications of what she has already agreed in the Joint

Declaration, in particular her reporting obligation and the

obligation to deal with complaints from other states parties,

the British side handed over some papers in October 1992 in

which We explained how we had ourselves discharged our

various obligations in respect of Hong Kong, including our

obligation to report to the UN Human Rights Committee. The

papers were written on the assumption that the Chinese would

be accountable for their actions under the ICCPR from 1 July

1997.

has SO far been no reaction from the Chinese

side.

There

CONFIDENTIAL # #