Human rights in Hong Kong
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Human rights in Hong Kong occasionally come under spotlight of international community because of its world city status, while it is also acting as a gauge on whether People's Republic of China has kept the promise of the "One Country, Two Systems" under the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
Contents |
Legal basis
Sino-British Joint Declaration
Under the Annex I (Section XI) of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, it stated that:
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government shall protect the rights and freedoms of inhabitants and other persons in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region according to law. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government shall maintain the rights and freedoms as provided for by the laws previously in force in Hong Kong, including freedom of the person, of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, to form and join trade unions, of correspondence, of travel, of movement, of strike, of demonstration, of choice of occupation, of academic research, of belief, inviolability of the home, the freedom to marry and the right to raise a family freely.
Basic Law
In the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, the constitutional document of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, enshired human rights as in the Chapter III : Fundamental Rights and Duties of the Residents in the law, which includes but not limited to the following articles:
Article 27
Hong Kong residents shall have freedom of speech, of the press and of publication; freedom of association, of assembly, of procession and of demonstration; and the right and freedom to form and join trade unions, and to strike.
Article 28
The freedom of the person of Hong Kong residents shall be inviolable.
No Hong Kong resident shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful arrest, detention or imprisonment. Arbitrary or unlawful search of the body of any resident or deprivation or restriction of the freedom of the person shall be prohibited. Torture of any resident or arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of the life of any resident shall be prohibited.
Article 29
The homes and other premises of Hong Kong residents shall be inviolable. Arbitrary or unlawful search of, or intrusion into, a resident's home or other premises shall be prohibited.
Article 39
The provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and international labour conventions as applied to Hong Kong shall remain in force and shall be implemented through the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
The rights and freedoms enjoyed by Hong Kong residents shall not be restricted unless as prescribed by law. Such restrictions shall not contravene the provisions of the preceding paragraph of this Article.
Bill of Rights Ordinance
The Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance has codified and incorporated the provisions of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as Chapter 383 Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance of the law in Hong Kong.
Freedom of demonstration
Article 27 of the Basic Law has stated that Hong Kong residents shall have "freedom of association, of assembly, of procession and of demonstration."
However, human rights groups have accused the Hong Kong Police (HKP) of using heavy-handed and extremely violent tactics on peaceful protesters, who protest against controversial policies of the local government or those of the central government of People's Republic of China (e.g. Falun Gong).
In 2002, Amnesty International cited the use of excessive force in an incident at Chater Garden where more than 350 police and immigrations officers stormed a group of 200 protesters. The protesters had been peacefully staging rallies against the Court of Final Appeal ruling that the majority of 5,114 people seeking residence in the territory did not have right to stay in Hong Kong and should return to mainland China.
On 12 August 2002, a group of Falun Gong practitioners who were protesting peacefully outside the Liaison Office of Central People's Government in HKSAR were being forcibly removed from the street by Hong Kong Police with controversial, and peceived violence, tactics. All were later charged with the offence of Public Place Obstruction but the defendants vigorous contest the case and appealed all the way to the Court of Final Appeal, the highest court of territory. On 5 May 2005 all defendants in this case (Yeung May-Wan & others v Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, FACC 19/2004) were acquitted by the Court of Final Appeal on the basis of rights enshired under Article 27 of the Basic Law.
Police brutality and accountability
Although police officers from Hong Kong Police are being described by some locals as "licensed thugs" (有牌爛仔), especially in the old days, documented human right abuses committed by Hong Kong Police are mainly on the handling of peaceful demonstrations (as described in previous section), death in custodies, and its lack of accountability to the public.
Alleged and confirmed police brutality
Suspects often complain of the use of torture and bluffing suspects with charges in order to obtain confessions. Cases of torture and death in custody, Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor accuses, are not being properly investigated even in face of heavy criticism by United Nations Commission on Human Rights. In the meantime, violent police officers involved are let go lightly by courts assisted by prosecution who intentionally charge them with the lighter offence of grievous bodily harm, instead of torture which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment under local legislation[citation needed].
Accountability of Hong Kong Police Force
Unlike their counterpart in countries like United Kingdom where all regional police forces are being governed by a police authority which consists of elected local councilors and local members of public, HKP only reports to the Security Bureau of HKSAR government, headed by appointed civil servants from the executive branch of government.
Complains to police are being handled by Complaints against Police Office (CAPO), which is not being an independent body part but of the HKP institution. The Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC) is being setup to independently review every case handled by CAPO.
However Compliants being made to CAPO are being handled casually and outcomes are mostly biased towards HKP[citation needed]. While the official mission of Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC) is to independently review every case handled by, in fact it only acts as a de facto rubber stamp - it has no investigative power, nor even hear appeals to CAPO rulings. The rulings of CAPO is seldom being challenged by IPCC.
Calls for reform, from both local non-government organisations, political parties as well as the UNCHR, have gone into deaf ears of HKSAR government. These calls are strongly opposed by the police officer trade unions, who view civil liberty and human rights as an erosion of their power.
Identity cards
After the riot in 1967, Royal Hong Kong Police gained a sweeping power for its officers to stop a person for the purpose of demanding that he or she produces proof of his identity for inspection by the police office, when he/she finds any person in any street or other public place, or on board any vessel, or in any conveyance, at any hour of the day or night, who acts in a suspicious manner.
This power is generally considered controversial. Whether or not "suspicious manner" is solely on the determination of the police officer, and members of public in blonde hair, "suspicious" dress style, new immigrants who don't look like locals, and ethnic minorities are much more likely subject to intimidation by police officers. However, in the book Criminal Procedure in Hong Kong (Published by Longman, ISBN 962-00-4013-9), the writer suggested that the police officer must be able to articulate how the person was behaving such that it could be reasonbly suspicious. Also to note is that-
the only things police are authorized to do by s54 PFO is to seek production of proof of identity, detain for a reasonble period while police records enquiries are bing made, and search only as appropriate. Quite litmited search powers only may be exercised under S54 PFO.
(Page 23, Criminal Procedure in Hong Kong)
Capital punishment
No capital punishment has been carried out since 1966 and it has been formally abolished for all crimes in 1993.
Special Branch
The Special Branch of Royal Hong Kong Police, was disbanded in 1995 prior to the transfer of sovereignty. However in 2005 it has been rumoured that the government is planning to re-establish the Hong Kong Police Special Branch, as instructed by central government of PRC.
The potential re-establishment of Special Branch is a particularly disturbing news among Hong Kong human rights activists and pro-democracy politicians, as the Special Branch of RHKP had been involved in secretive telephone tapping and spying of politicians and NGO in the past in the name of "national" (i.e. the British colonial government) security.
See Special Branch
National security and Article 23 of Basic Law
Hong Kong SAR has the constitutional duty of safeguarding the national security by the virtue of Article 23 of the Basic Law, which stated that:
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People's Government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from conducting political activities in the Region, and to prohibit political organizations or bodies of the Region from establishing ties with foreign political organizations or bodies.
However it is controversial on how to implement the Article 23 in local legislation, where many suspected that Article 23 provides a backdoor for the government to introduce legislation which suppress any people, organisation or activities who oppose the policy of either the Special Administrative Region itself, or the Central Government.
See Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23
References
Legal Basis - Sino-British Joint Declaration, Basic Law and the Bill of Rights Ordinance
- Sino-British Joint Declaration: Annex I Elaboration by the Government of the People's Republic of China of its Basic Policies Regarding Hong Kong [1]
- Full-text of Basic Law Chapter III : Fundamental Rights and Duties of the Residents [2]
- Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance 1991 [3]
Freedom of Demonstration
- Amnesty International Press Release Hong Kong: Police must exercise restraint in handling protesters [4] 26 April 2002
- Judgement Summary, Yeung May-Wan & others v Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Court of Final Appeal [5] 5 May 2005
Alleged and Confirmed Police Brutality
- Press release from Hong Kong Human Right Monitor: Statement on yet another death in police custody[6] 12 August 1999
- Press release from Hong Kong Human Right Monitor: Light Punishment to Harbour Violent Police Officers?[7] 15 August 1999
- Press release from Hong Kong Human Right Monitor: Response to the submission of the Implementation Report on United Nations Convention Against Torture by HKSAR Government [8] (Chinese language version) 1999
Accountability of Hong Kong Police Force
- Legislative Councillor Mr. James TO proposed to scrap the budget of CAPO and IPCC as its lack of credibility and inability to investigate properly on behalf of complainants [9] (Legislative Council Official Recording of Proceedings, 28 April 2004, Page 5441 (in the document), Page 121 (in the PDF file))
- Chapter 26, Complains Against Police and Internal Investigations, Police General Orders [10]
- Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor: HK People Paying the Price for Government Obstruction of Legal Reforms of Police Powers[11]
- Call for reform on police complain procedures from United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 1995[12]
(Concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee (Hong Kong) : United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 09/11/95.CCPR/C/79/Add.57)
Identity Cards
- Cap 232 s 54 Police Force Ordinance(PFO)[13]
See also
External links
Official Web Pages
Non-Government Organisations
Information Sources
- Freedom of expression in Hong Kong - IFEX
- A Change of Wind: New Challenges to Freedom of Expression in Hong Kong
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