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Human Rights Issues -- May 2001
The SAR Professor was arrested for spying for Taiwan (18 May 2001) (Article 12, 14)
Seeking NPC's interpretation was unjust (May 29, 2001) (Article 23)
The UN Committee on economic, Social and Cultural Rights issued its concluding observations on Hong Kong Human Rights Commission (13 May 2001) (General)
The hearing of the UN Committee on economic, Social and Cultural Rights was held on 1 May 2001 in Geneva. Both Hong Kong Government and NGOs in Hong Kong including Hong Kong Human Rights Commission sent their representatives to present the human rights situation in Hong Kong.
The concluding observations by the Committee was issued on 13 May 2001. In it, the Committee regrets that the Hong Kong Government has not implemented a number of the recommendations in its concluding observations of 1996. It expressed its concern on different defects of the Hong Kong Government such as the failure of the legislation against racial discrimination and the failure of the establishment of a national human rights institution.
The full concluding observations can be found under this website:
http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/1f67bd3f2a811fddc1256a4c002ed71a?Opendocument
The SAR Professor was arrested for spying for Taiwan (18 May 2001) (Article 12, 14)
A US passport holder scholar, Mr. Li Shaomin was charged with spying for Taiwan in the Mainland. Mr. Li was detained in China since February by an unknown reason. The maximum penalty for spying is from 3 years to life imprisonment.
The detention news of Mr. Li raised fears among local and international academics. In April, more than 13 scholars in the US sent their petition letter to the President of China, Mr. Jiang Zemin, to urge the release of Mr. Li. In Hong Kong, 104 scholars from 7 academics in Hong Kong also signed a petition letter to the President before the held of the Fortune Forum in May.
Mr. Li's wife said her husband was an innocent and a scholar only. "What they accuse him of is pure nonsense." She hoped the US Government could offer more aid for her family.
Ony Yew-kim, a Chinese law research fellow at Chinese University's Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies said court hearing would probably be held at Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court behind closed doors.
The spokesman of US Consulate said: "We are very concerned by this development and will continue to express our concern about Mr. Li;s case to the Chinese Government. We will press for him to be accorded due process and for his case to be brought to a fair and speedy conclusion resulting in his swift release." The US Embassy had visited Mr. Li for three times and the last visit was on 13 April. The Embassy said his health condition was good.
Seeking NPC's interpretation was unjust (May 29, 2001) (Article 23)
The hearing concerning 5,000 abode claimants was held in the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) yesterday. Mr. Geoffery Robertson, Senior Counsel, for his 5,000 claimants, argued that it was unjust for the SAR Government seeking interpretation from the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC).
Mr. Robertson argued that the ruling of the CFA in January 29, 1999 led the appellants having a reasonable expectation that they are entitled to have right of abode in Hong Kong. Moreover, the SAR Government had stated that the ruling of CFA in January 1999 was the testing case that claimants with similar case background should be benefited from the ruling. However, the SAR Government's standpoint was changed after the NPC's interpretation in June 1999 and said that other claimants were not benefit from the testing case. The Government was accused of abusing its administrative power. Most importantly, the government exaggerated the number of children of Hong Kong residents in Mainland China from 130,000 to over 1,600,000. If the Government seek interpretation again, it was also unfair action towards the claimants. The hearing would be continued.