Top court throws out request by Hong Kong prison bosses to keep discriminatory haircut requirement for male inmates
- Court of Final Appeal ruled on November 27 that forcing only male prisoners to wear their hair short constituted sex discrimination
- It said on Monday there was nothing complex about its ruling that justified a six-month suspension
Hong Kong’s top court has thrown out a request by the prison service to temporarily keep a discriminatory requirement for male inmates to keep their hair short until authorities come up with a substitute policy that complies with the law.
The Court of Final Appeal said in a judgment on Monday there was nothing complex about its ruling in November that would justify a six-month suspension of an order requiring “elimination of the less favourable treatment regarding hair length requirements based on sex”.
“It is impossible to understand why a temporary suspension of [six] months is required,” the judgment said, without identifying the author.
The top court also said one of the Correctional Services Department’s proposed solutions – to require all female prisoners to cut their hair short – was “rather unattractive”.
The department’s application followed the top court’s ruling on November 27 that forcing only male prisoners to wear their hair short constituted sex discrimination.
