EOC looks to combining equal rights laws
Outgoing EOC chairman wants to combine all four of the city's anti-discrimination ordinances to pave a smoother path for new ones in future
The Equal Opportunities Commission will complete by this year the drafting of a consultation document to review the four anti-discrimination laws, so that a public consultation into the matter can be launched next year.
Commission chairman Lam Woon-kwong made the announcement after his last - and coincidentally 100th - meeting with members of the commission yesterday.
Former health secretary Dr York Chow Yat-ngor will take over his role next month.
Lam said the four ordinances had been drafted 18 years ago based on those in Britain and Australia. But while these two countries had improved on them over the past two decades, Hong Kong has lagged behind by at least 10 years, he said.
"The aim of the review is to modernise the existing four ordinances," Lam said, referring to the sex, disability, family status and race discrimination ordinances.
"If we combine the four ordinances into one main ordinance … this will be more flexible."
Doing so would make it easier and faster to introduce new anti-discrimination laws, as all that would be required then would be an amendment to the main ordinance instead of having to put forward a new and separate law, Lam explained.
