Hong Kong's human rights record will once again come under scrutiny at the United Nations, on March 20. That's when the Human Rights Committee will hold a hearing on the second report submitted by the Hong Kong government on its implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The hearing on the first report was held in Geneva, in November 1999. This time, the hearing will be in New York City, and three members from the group Power for Democracy will attend as observers. I will be joined by the convenor, Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong, and legislator Albert Ho Chun-yan.
Representatives from other non-governmental organisations will also attend.
The government delegation will be led by the acting permanent secretary for home affairs, Stephen Fisher.
After the last hearing in 1999, the committee published a list of observations and expressed concern that most of its recommendations had not been implemented.
Even before the change of sovereignty, the committee had urged the Hong Kong government to establish an independent statutory human rights body to investigate and monitor human rights violations and the implementation of covenant rights.