Flood of responses on anti-discrimination law amendments will delay results
An unprecedented flood of submissions on planned amendments to anti-discrimination laws will delay results of the public consultation on the changes by two to three months.
An unprecedented flood of submissions on planned amendments to anti-discrimination laws will delay results of the public consultation on the changes by two to three months.
With three days left for submissions, more than 80,000 have been received, with many revealing misconceptions about the planned amendments.
"I've worked in the government for so many years and I've never seen this great a volume of submissions on a public consultation," Equal Opportunities Commission chairman Dr York Chow Yat-ngok said yesterday. He said extra part-time staff had been hired to cope with the workload.
The consultation seeks views on how the four anti-discrimination laws, covering sex, family status, disability and race, should be reviewed and whether they should be combined.
Chow said most views tended to focus on two points: whether discrimination based on citizenship, immigration status and nationality should be prohibited under the racial discrimination law, and whether de facto relationships should be protected under provisions on family status.
Many of these, he said, seemed to be misinformed, the former by Hong Kong-mainland tensions and the latter by fear the measure would lead to same-sex marriage.
"Even in de facto relationships or marriages, they need to follow the Hong Kong legal definition of marriage, which is between a man and a woman," Chow said.
"Saying that this will lead to same-sex marriage or polygamy ... is too far-fetched and very misleading."
The former secretary for food and health said both supporters and opponents of homosexual rights had in some ways twisted the consultation to suit their causes.
The commission has sought a separate report on sexual orientation, a topic not included in the anti-discrimination laws.
These two points overshadowed other very important ones, such as the duty to accommodate disabled people in public spaces and buildings, Chow said.
Others included the more technical point of whether respondents should have to prove their cases when being accused of discrimination, as well as the issue of government and government functions not being bound by the race-discrimination ordinance.
"The whole process has been positive," he said. "Even though many submissions show misconceptions among Hongkongers, at least we know what misled them."
The four laws were passed at different times, with the newest one, the Racial Discrimination Ordinance, passed in 2008.
The consultation ends on Friday, with a report on the submissions now expected in the third or fourth quarter of next year.
