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Urgent Appeal to the United Nations Human Rights Committee
A GROUP OF SIX HONG KONG FAMILIES
We are a group of 6 Hong Kong Families asking the Committee to give its urgent attention to the fact that our relatives are being detained in China without any offence against the laws. Now, they are being detained as a debt hostage because their employers are involved in the commercial disputes with their mainland partners. In fact, the duration of detention has been more than a year without any offence and trial and some of them suffered from torture by Chinese Government.
In some cases, detainees are employed by Hong Kong businessmen and their job natures request them to deal with the mainland partners. While others are bosses who do business with mainland partners. However, the employees are detained after their employers' business collapsed with outstanding financial obligations to mainland partners. Facing this problem, the employers fled away and left unsolved the financial disputes in China. In order to settle such financial disputes, the mainland partners treat the employees as scapegoats. Concerning the bosses cases, the Chinese Police detained them when they had commercial disputes in China. The mainland partners, together with the Chinese police, detained our family members and forced us to pay uncountable huge ransom. One of our family is "blackmailed" by the mainland partners and the Chinese police to pay around US$700,000 as a ransom to release the detainees. They treat this ransom as a term to cover the debt of their employers. This sum of ransom exceeds the total amount of the debt owned by the employers.
It is crystal clear that this matter is only a commercial dispute between the Hong Kong employers and the mainland partners. The employees are innocent. However, the situation of our detained family members becomes more complicated because the Chinese Police involved in these commercial disputes.
Violation of Article 9: arbitrary arrest and detain the citizens
Together with the mainland partners, the Chinese Police arbitrary arrested and detained of our family members. When they arrested our family members, they did not inform the reasons of arrest and did not follow the procedure established by laws. Then, they are detained in the detention cell run by the Chinese Police. They were locked up by the Chinese Police for more than 3 months. Some detentions were as long as 20 months. Their action is totally against the Chinese Criminal Laws, which stated that police could only detain a suspect for a maximum period of 3 months. If the Chinese Police thought that the detainees committed crimes, they should give them a reason of arrest and forward their cases to the People's Procuratorates. However, during their detention, the Chinese Police do not forward these cases to the People's Procuratorates. They just locked them up and asked for the ransom.
Violation of Article 10: detain with the convicted persons
In 2a of this Article, it mentioned that "accused person shall, save in exceptional circumstances, be segregated from convicted persons". Our family members are innocent and are detained through the arbitrary arrest of the Chinese Police. In addition, this is not an exceptional circumstance because 6 of them are detained with the convicted persons.
Violation of Article 11: imprison merely on inability of fulfilling contractual obligation
We have urged the Chinese Police to release our family members immediately if they do not have sufficient evidence to put the suspect in trial in accordance with the Chinese Criminal Laws. Anyone should not be detained without committing any crimes and should not be punished for the others. However, the long detention shows that the Chinese police have no intention to release them. They also inform us that the detainee could not be released unless we are willing to pay the ransom.
Violation of Article 7: suffer from inhuman treatments
We are very worried about the situation and health condition of our family members. We are prohibited to visit them. Some of them are suffered from inhuman treatment, as they do not receive any medical treatment although the detainees have serious health problems. Every month, we need to pay more than US$100 to the Chinese police in order to provides food and drinks to our family members. Not only did they lose their liberty, but also suffered by the Chinese Police.
In fact, we have reported the cases of our family members to several parties and governments, such as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (SAR Government), the Chinese Government and the Court in China. However, all the replies are very disappointing. For example, the answer of the Court in China said that they could not accept these cases, as there was lack of information and evidence. Moreover, we have urged the SAR Government and the Chinese Government to rescue its citizens. But, the attitude of SAR Government was very passive in saving these Hong Kong employees. We also received no response from the Chinese Government. What both governments agreed to do was to set up a mechanism to deal with the cases when their citizens are detained in the unpromising future. We are also very disappointed by the reply of SAR Government, which stated that "under the one country two systems principal, the SAR Government is inappropriate to interfere the China legal system."
Undoubtedly, both the SAR Government and the Chinese Government, totally ignore the importance of human rights although both governments guarantee human rights in the Constitution and the Basic Law and China signed the ICCPR and ICESCR.
"The provision of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and international labor conventions as applied to Hong Kong shall remain in force and shall be implemented through the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region." (Article 39 of Basic Law)
Also, on 6 June 1997, the Government of China notified the Secretary General of the United Nations of the following:
"According to the Declaration of the Government of the People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on the question of Hong Kong signed on 19 December 1984, the People's Republic of China will resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong with effect from 1 July 1997. Hong Kong will, with effect from that date, become a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China and will enjoy a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defense affairs which are the responsibility of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China."
"Since 1 July 1997, the Government of the People's Republic of China will assume responsibility for the international rights and obligations arising from the application of the Convention to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region." (Footnote of the People's Republic of China on the United Nations' Meeting)
As the number of Hong Kong people doing business in China increases, we believe that similar cases of our family members will also increase. Therefore, we strongly urge the Committee to give high priority to these cases in your meeting schedule. We strongly request the Committee to ask the SAR Government and the Chinese Government to fulfill the obligations of ICCPR and ICESCR. At this way, our family members can have a fair trial or be released immediately if no recognizably criminal offence can be charged and to ensure they would not subject to ill treatment again during their detention.