UN committee hears HK rights group concerns
Police strip-searches, asylum policy, child rights on agenda
The United Nations Committee Against Torture yesterday heard the concerns of Hong Kong rights activists about police strip-searching procedures and the lack of a clear government policy on asylum seekers.
The views were put forward as the Geneva-based committee began a hearing on human rights in Hong Kong.
Government representatives and non-government organisations are attending the meeting.
Speaking from Geneva, Human Rights Monitor director Law Yuk-kai said the group had stated in a paper presented to the committee that arbitrary strip-searching in Hong Kong has become a matter of grave concern, leading to substantial numbers of unjustified searches.
Even new police guidelines on the issue were unclear and ambiguous in several ways, it said.
The group questioned why the law endowed police with absolute discretion to decide the extent and manner of a search.
There was also no distinction between the level of justification required for searches of people arrested and held in a police cell for a limited period and those who were to be imprisoned.
Moreover, the present policy did not prohibit strip-searches of children, Mr Law said.
He said the group had told the committee that the current strip-search policy violated human rights and personal privacy.
The organisation also said it had urged the government to abolish routine manual rectal searches and to use instead a visual cavity search.
Legislators set up a sub-commitee on the issue last month after learning that more than 1,600 full strip-searches had been conducted in the three months since new guidelines had taken effect.
At the Geneva meeting, Hong Kong NGOs also complained about the lack of any law or policy offering protection for refugees or asylum seekers.
Mr Law said the Hong Kong government had a firm policy not to grant asylum and in the absence of a fair procedure to determine refugee status, there was no coherent policy for handling asylum seekers.
He said committee members had expressed concern at the detention of asylum-seeking children, especially in view of the lack of education for them.
Mr Law said the Hong Kong government might be violating international obligations as children were entitled to an education in any jurisdiction regardless of their status.
The committee was scheduled to examine reports by China, Hong Kong and Macau on implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment yesterday and on Monday.
