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SCMP Reporter

WHEN Gary Cheung Ying-lun, a former Hong Kong Customs officer, faced trial in Sydney on drugs charges in 1992 he pleaded not guilty. But before his trial could go ahead, Australia's Human Rights Commission was called to his aid.

   Cheung, 44, charged with being involved in a scheme to import almost 50kg of heroin, had been arrested three years previously after a joint Hong Kong Police-Australian Federal Police investigation.

  He sought a stay of his court proceedings, saying he would be unable to obtain a fair trial because of problems caused by the distance between Australia and Hong Kong.

  He had been refused access to documentation in Hong Kong, a defence witness lived here and would be unable to come to Australia, and the meaning of certain telephone conversations in Cantonese could be misinterpreted by an Australian jury, he said.

  Cheung's lawyer brought his claims to the attention of Australia's Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. It drew the court's attention to an accused person's right to adequate time and facilities for trial preparation and to call and examine witnesses.

  The judge gave an assurance that the trial would be fair, and the court travelled to Hong Kong to take evidence.

   Cheung was eventually convicted and, last August, sentenced to life imprisonment. But his court case illustrates the role of the Human Rights Commission, which has established itself as a force in Australia since it was set up in 1981 under an Act of Parliament.

  The Commission was empowered to handle complaints and conduct educational, promotional and research programmes concerning racial discrimination and the rights of children, the mentally retarded and the disabled.

  A PART-TIME body, it had one full-time member and six to 10 part-time members. When Australia's Sex Discrimination Act was passed in 1984, the Commission's responsibilities increased and in 1986 it was re-structured.

  The new commission now comprises a part-time president and six full-time commissioners who deal with human rights, disability discrimination, race discrimination, sex discrimination, Aboriginal justice and privacy.

   The equal opportunity aspect of the Commission's work is mostly monitored by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Susan Walpole, whose background is in employment and industrial relations.

  She says two cases best illustrate what comes before her. When a woman who held a senior management position with her company took maternity leave, she came back to find her position had changed to one that was without a career path - a job out of line with her skills and ambitions.

  In conciliation the company acknowledged the changes could have been handled better. So could its reaction to her objections. The company agreed to pay A$10,000 (about HK$55,000) compensation and to provide training for an alternative position.

  Ms Walpole's second example concerns a woman who alleged less favourable treatment than that given to men by a company manager. He had a history of similar conduct and she had been sacked because of that attitude, she alleged.

   The manager argued it wasn't discrimination, just a staff rationalisation because of a merger. The matter was settled with a payment of A$1,250 to the former employee.

   The Commission's objectives are twofold - to increase the understanding, acceptance and observance of human rights and equal opportunity in Australia and to promote a fairer society by protecting those rights and opportunities.

  The Human Rights Commission's powers allow it to conduct an inquiry - as the result of a complaint, on its own initiative or at the Government's request - and to conciliate.

   It can also report to the Government on any matters within its jurisdiction, undertake research and educational programmes which promote human rights and, as in Cheung's case, intervene in legal proceedings.

  The Commission's president, Sir Ronald Wilson, a former justice of the High Court of Australia, outlines its operation: ''We are in the business of responding to the needs of those in the community who are disadvantaged, defenceless and powerless.

  ''It is an inspiring, challenging and rewarding task. Australia's advancement in well-being must not leave any of its citizens behind.''   Chief Commissioner Brian Burdekin, a former lawyer and diplomat who served in Australian embassies in Washington and Geneva, says 90 per cent of those seeking its help can't afford to go to court to protect their rights.

  ''That is particularly so if the defendant is a government agency with all the professional and financial resources that entails.''     Mr Burdekin says: ''The most vulnerable and disadvantaged in many societies are minorities, often composed of individuals who are poor and politically powerless.'' It is for them the Commission exists.

   Last year, apart from responding to calls from such people, the Commission was involved in three major inquiries: the human rights of people with mental illness, the state of racial discrimination in the Australian Outback and the effects of alcohol on it, and sex discrimination in the community.

   There were also continuing research projects - the study of relations between police and Aborigines on a remote island community and the problems of retrenched workers with non-English speaking background, for instance.

  The outcome of such Human Rights Commission's projects are widely publicised, with the media seen as an effective ally. This publicity is bringing results.

   Last year the Commission dealt with 31,000 approaches for assistance - up 18 per cent on the previous year.

   Its conclusion rate is impressive. Last year 48 per cent of complaints were conciliated with a mutually agreed settlement, while in 31 per cent the person making the complaint agreed, after discussion, to discontinue it.

   So far the Commission has been relatively free of criticism. In fact the only serious concerns have been that its authority is not strong enough.

  Justice Murray Wilcox of the Federal Court believes the present laws are inadequate protection against discrimination. It's not enough to rely on common law, which has ''a patchy civil liberties record'', he says and urges a Bill of Rights similar to that in the United States or Canada.



A force to be reckoned with