1. TORTURE

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1. Hong Kong should consider adopting a more inclusive definition of the term “public official” in the definition of torture as to clearly include all acts inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of all public officials or other persons acting in an official capacity. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 5)

 

2. Hong Kong should ensure that the definition comprises all the elements contained in article 1 of CAT, including discrimination of any kind. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 5)

 

3. Hong Kong should consider abolishing the defense contained in section 3(4) of the Crimes (Torture) Ordinance (Cap 427); to this end, Hong Kong could, for instance, incorporate article 1 of CAT into its Basic Law, as it has done with article 7 of the ICCPR. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 6)

 

 

4. Hong Kong should ensure that health care professionals are equipped with the necessary training and information to recognise and detect signs and features that may suggest the occurrence of torture, as well as to provide gender sensitive treatment in legal and medical institutions. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 9)

 

2. NON-REFOULEMENT, REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS

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5. Hong Kong should establish an appropriate mechanism to assess the risk faced by individuals expressing fears of being victims of grave human rights violations, such as those contrary to articles 6 and 7 of the ICCPR, in the location to which they may be returned. (HRC Concluding Observations 2006, § 10)

 

 

6. Hong Kong should consider adopting a legal regime on asylum by establishing a comprehensive and effective procedure to examine thoroughly, when determining the applicability of its obligations under article 3 of CAT, the merits of each individual case. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 7; CERD Concluding Observations 2009, § 29)

 

 

7. Hong Kong should guarantee the rights of asylum-seekers to information, interpretation, legal assistance and judicial remedies. (CERD Concluding Observations 2009, § 29)

 

 

8. Hong Kong should incorporate the provisions contained in article 3 of CAT (non-refoulement obligation) under the Crimes (Torture) Ordinance (Cap 427).(CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 7)

 

 

9. Hong Kong should ensure that adequate mechanisms for the review of the decision are in place for each person subject to removal, expulsion or extradition. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 7)

 

 

10. Hong Kong should ensure effective post-return monitoring arrangement. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 7)

 

 

11. Hong Kong is encouraged to ratify the 1951 Refugee Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and 1967 Protocol. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008,§ 7; CERD Concluding Observations 2009, § 29; CEDAW Concluding Observations 2006, § 44)

 

 

12. If resorting to the use of “death penalty safeguards” in the surrender of fugitive offenders/sentenced persons, Hong Kong should provide the CAT Committee, in its next report, with the following information: (a) the number of cases where “surrender” or removals subject to safeguards or guarantees have occurred in the reporting period, (b) Hong Kong’s minimum requirements for these safeguards, (c) the measures of subsequent monitoring undertaken by HKSAR in such cases as well as the legal enforceability of these safeguards. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 8)

 

 

3. TRAFFICKING VICTIMS

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13. Hong Kong should increase protection, including recovery and reintegration, to trafficked persons, especially women and children, who should be treated as victims and not criminalised. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 7)

 

 

14. Hong Kong is urged to ensure respect for the necessary procedural safeguards when deporting victims of trafficking in persons, particularly when such victims are minors, and to provide them with the necessary medical, psychological and legal support. (ICESCR Concluding Observations 2005, § 97)

 

 

4. OTHER FORMS OF ILL-TREATMENT

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A. Strip search and body cavity search

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15. Hong Kong should ensure that strip searches for persons in police custody are limited to cases where there is a reasonable and clear justification. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 10)

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16. If carried out, the search has to be conducted with the least intrusive means and in full conformity with article 16 of CAT. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008,§ 10)

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17. Hong Kong should provide an independent mechanism to monitor strip searches, upon request of the detainee. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 10)

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18. Hong Kong should establish precise and strict guidelines regulating the strip searches conducted by all law-enforcement officials, including those from the Immigration and Correctional Services Department. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 10)

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19. If guidelines are already in place, officials should strictly abide by them and their observance should be consistently monitored. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 10)

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20. Records of strip searches should be made and all abuses committed should be thoroughly investigated and, if substantiated, punished. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 10)

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21. Hong Kong should seek alternate methods to body cavity search for routine screening of prisoners. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 10)

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22. If a body cavity search must be conducted, it must be only as a last resort and should be performed by trained health personnel and with due regard for the individual’s privacy and dignity. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 10)

 

B. Police operations

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23. Hong Kong should tackle, including through training and awareness-raising activities, all existing attitudes suggesting that abuses committed during police operations in the context of prostitution-related offences, may be condoned. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 11)

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24. Hong Kong authorities should thoroughly investigate all allegations of abuses committed during police operations in the context of prostitution-related offences which, if substantiated, should be appropriately prosecuted and punished. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 11)

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25. Hong Kong should continue to take steps to establish a fully independent mechanism mandated to receive and investigate complaints on police misconduct.  This body should be equipped with the necessary human and financial resources and have the executive authority to formulate binding recommendations in respect of investigations conducted and findings regarding such complaints, in line with the requirements of article 12 of CAT. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 12)

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C. Domestic violence

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26. Hong Kong should make sure that police officers receive proper training to deal with cases of domestic violence and ensure adequate allocation of resources for protection and provision of assistance to the victims. (HRC Concluding Observations 2006, § 16)

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27. Hong Kong should thoroughly investigate all allegations of domestic violence which, if substantiated, should be appropriately prosecuted and punished. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 13)

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28. Hong Kong should strengthen its efforts to address domestic violence through legislative, policy and social measures. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 13)

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29. Hong Kong should develop national public information and awareness-raising campaigns and stimulate broader public discussions in order to address attitudes and stereotypes that may lead to violence against women. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 13)

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30. Hong Kong should provide further information on this issue in its next periodic report, including on the progress obtained through the forthcoming Enhanced Central Domestic Violence Database. (CAT Concluding Observations 2008, § 13)

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5. NON-DISCRIMINATION

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A. Race

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31. Hong Kong is urged to adopt the necessary legislation regarding racial discrimination, in order to ensure full compliance with article 26 of the ICCPR.(HRC Concluding Observations 2006, § 19; CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 33)

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32. Hong Kong should include indirect discrimination with regard to language, immigration status and nationality among the prohibited grounds of discrimination in the Race Discrimination Ordinance.  In this regard reference is made to the CERD Committee’s General Recommendation No. 30 (Discrimination Against Non Citizens). (CERD Concluding Observations 2009, § 27)

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33.  All Government functions and powers should be brought within the scope of the Race Discrimination Ordinance. (CERD Concluding Observations 2009, § 28)

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34. Hong Kong should adopt an equality plan with a view to ensuring the effective implementation of the law and that the Equal Opportunities Commission be strengthened. (CERD Concluding Observations 2009, § 28)

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35. Hong Kong is urged to extend the protection afforded by the proposed racial discrimination law to internal migrants from the Mainland, and to put a stop to the widespread discriminatory practices against them on the basis of their origin. (ICESCR Concluding Observations 2005, § 91)

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36. Hong Kong should amend the relevant provisions of the existing immigration legislation governing entry into, period of stay, and departure from Hong Kong to ensure full conformity and consistency with the new racial discrimination legislation. (ICESCR Concluding Observations 2005, § 91)

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B. Women

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I. Violence Against Women

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37. Hong Kong is urged to strengthen its efforts in combating all forms of violence against women, including domestic violence. (CEDAW Concluding Observations 2006, § 36)

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38. Hong Kong is encouraged to re-establish the Hong Kong rape crisis centres so as to ensure that victims of sexual violence receive specific attention and counselling in full anonymity. (CEDAW Concluding Observations 2006, § 36)

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39. Hong Kong should allocate sufficient resources to combat all forms of violence against women, including domestic violence. (CEDAW Concluding Observations 2006, § 36)

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40. Hong Kong should provide details about budget allocation to combat all forms of violence against women in its next periodic report. (CEDAW Concluding Observations 2006, § 36)

 

41. Hong Kong is urged to improve gender-sensitivity training for judicial and law enforcement officials and health and social workers on violence against women. (CEDAW Concluding Observations 2006, § 36)

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42. Hong Kong is urged to enhance women’s access to justice, including by ensuring an effective response to complaints and carrying out more proactive investigations of complaints. (CEDAW Concluding Observations 2006, § 36)

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43. Hong Kong should ensure that female foreign domestic workers are not discriminated against by their employers or subject to abuse and violence.(CEDAW Concluding Observations 2006, § 42)

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44. Hong Kong is requested to report back to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR Committee) in its next periodic report on the result of the study by the Commission on Women on domestic violence. (ICESCR Concluding Observations 2005, § 97)

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II. Gender Equality

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45. Hong Kong is urged to repeal all discriminatory provisions from the Small House Policy and ensure that indigenous women have the same rights and access to property as indigenous men. (CEDAW Concluding Observations 2006, § 38)

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46. Hong Kong should widely disseminate the present concluding comments in order to make the people, including government officials, politicians, parliamentarians and women’s and human rights organisations, aware of the steps that have been taken to ensure the dejure and de facto equality of women, as well as the further steps that are required in that regard. (CEDAW Concluding Observations 2006, § 55)

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47. Hong Kong should provide, in its next periodic report, the results of the Equal Opportunities Commission Study on Gender-based Pay Inequalities and the measures to follow up the findings of the study. (ICESCR Concluding Observations 2005, § 93)

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C. Migrant workers

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48. Hong Kong should take effective measures to ensure that domestic migrant workers are not discriminated against. (CERD Concluding Observations 2009, § 30)

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49. Hong Kong should repeal the “two-weeks rule”, with a view of eliminating discriminatory practices and abuse arising from it, and to improving the legal protection and benefits practices and abuse arising from it, and to improving the legal protection and benefits for foreign domestic workers so that they are in line with those afforded to local workers, particularly with regard to wages and retirement benefits. (CERD Concluding Observations 2009, § 30; CEDAW Concluding Observations 2006, § 42; ICESCR Concluding Observations 2005, § 95)

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50. Hong Kong should repeal the live-in requirement. (CERD Concluding Observations 2009, § 30)

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51. Hong Kong should implement a more flexible policy regarding foreign domestic workers. (CEDAW Concluding Observations 2006, § 42)

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52. Hong Kong should adopt a more flexible approach to domestic migrant workers in relation to their working conditions and work requirements, including employment rules and practices with discriminatory purposes or effects.  Reference is made to the CERD Committee’s General Recommendation No. 30 (Discrimination Against Non Citizens). (CERD Concluding Observations 2009, § 30)

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53. Hong Kong is urged to make migrant workers aware of their rights so that they have access to justice and can claim their rights. (CEDAW Concluding Observations 2006, § 42)

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54. Hong Kong is called upon to strengthen its control of employment agencies. (CEDAW Concluding Observations 2006, § 42)

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55. Hong Kong is called upon to provide migrant workers with easily accessible avenues of redress against abuse by employers and permit them to stay in the country while seeking redress. (CEDAW Concluding Observations 2006, § 42)

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56. Hong Kong should enable domestic helpers to acquire pension rights through their inclusion in the Mandatory Provident Fund. (ICESCR Concluding Observations 2005, § 95)

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D. Non-Chinese speaking immigrants

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57. Hong Kong should develop a policy on Chinese teaching for non-Chinese speaking students from immigrant background in consultation with teachers as well as the communities concerned. (CERD Concluding Observations 2009, § 31)

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58. Hong Kong should intensify its efforts to improve the quality of Chinese language education for immigrant children. (CERD Concluding Observations 2009, § 31)

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E. Asylum-seekers

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59. Hong Kong should reconsider its position regarding the extension of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its Protocol to its territorial jurisdiction. (ICESCR Concluding Observations 2005, § 92)

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60. Hong Kong should strengthen its cooperation with UNHCR, in particular in the formulation of a clear and coherent asylum policy based on the principle of non-discrimination. (ICESCR Concluding Observations 2005, § 92)

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6. OTHER CIVIL RIGHTS

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61. Hong Kong should consider the establishment of an independent human rights institution compliant with the Paris Principles: the principles relating to the status of national institutions. (HRC Concluding Observations 2006, § 8)

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62. Hong Kong should ensure that the investigation of complaints against the police is carried out by an independent body, the decisions of which are binding on relevant authorities. (HRC Concluding Observations 2006, § 9)

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63. Hong Kong should amend its legislation regarding the offences of treason and sedition in the Crimes Ordinance to bring it into full conformity with articles 19, 21 and 22 of the ICCPR. (HRC Concluding Observations 2006, § 14)

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64. Hong Kong should take measures to ensure that the notification system between the Hong Kong and Mainland authorities is complied with and that cases of detention on the Mainland are notified promptly to the relatives in Hong Kong. (HRC Concluding Observations 2006, § 11)

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65. Hong Kong should ensure that its policies and practices regarding the right of abode fully take into consideration its obligations regarding the right of families and children to protection enshrined in article 23 and 24 of the ICCPR. (HRC Concluding Observations 2006, § 15)

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A. Privacy

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66. Hong Kong should enact legislation regarding the capacity of law enforcement agencies to intercept communications and carry out covert surveillance, in full conformity with article 17 of the ICCPR. (HRC Concluding Observations 2006, § 12)

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67. Hong Kong should provide a mechanism of protection and redress to individuals claiming interference with their privacy and correspondence. (HRC Concluding Observations 2006, § 12)

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B. Freedom of Expression

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68. Hong Kong should take vigorous measures to prevent and prosecute harassment of media personnel, and ensure that the media can operate independently and free from governmental intervention. (HRC Concluding Observations 2006, § 13)

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7. RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

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69. Hong Kong should take all appropriate measures to ensure that the present recommendations are fully implemented, inter alia by transmitting them to the members of the Legislative Councils in Hong Kong, when applicable, for appropriate consideration and further action. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 97)

70. The second periodic report and the written replies submitted by Hong Kong and the related recommendations (concluding observations) adopted by the Committee should be made widely available in the languages of the country, including (but not exclusively) through the Internet, to the public at large, civil society organisations, youth groups, professional groups and children, in order to generate debate and awareness of the CRC, its implementation and monitoring. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 98)

71. Hong Kong should review and withdraw its reservations to articles 32 and 37(c) of the CRC. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 9)

72. Hong Kong should improve coordination of its activities on the implementation of the CRC by developing and implementing a plan of action for Hong Kong. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 15)

73. Hong Kong should establish a national human rights institution with a clear mandate to monitor children’s rights and implement the CRC in accordance with the Principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles) annexed to GA Res 48/134 of 20 December 1993. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 17)

74. In accordance with CRC Committee’s General Comment No. 2 (2002) on the role of independent national human rights institutions, such institutions should have a mandate to receive, investigate and address complaints from the public, including individual children, and be provided with adequate financial, human and material resources.  In the case of Hong Kong, such an institution could be a specialised branch of the Ombudsman. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 17)

75. Hong Kong should target budgetary allocations towards income disparities, including through increased funding for social safety nets. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 21)

76. Hong Kong should establish an adequate monitoring system to ensure that budgetary allocations benefit the most vulnerable populations. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 21)

77. Hong Kong should explore the possibility of developing central databanks for statistics on children, so as to ensure that statistical data are used for the development, implementation and monitoring of appropriate policies and programmes for children. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 23)

78. Hong Kong should further strengthen its efforts to disseminate the CRC in all languages, and also through the use of child-friendly materials and school curricula. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 25)

79. Hong Kong should expand its programmes to sensitise parents and children about the CRC. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 25)

80. Hong Kong should increase its efforts to provide adequate and systematic training on children’s rights for professional groups working with and for children. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 25)

81. Hong Kong should expedite its efforts to draft and adopt legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race or sexual orientation. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 33)

82. Hong Kong should include in its next periodic report more detailed information on the implementation of article 3 of the CRC. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 36)

83. Hong Kong should include in its next periodic report more detailed information on how it ensures that the best interests of the child is a primary consideration in all actions concerning children. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 36)

84. In light of article 12 of the CRC, Hong Kong should strengthen its efforts to ensure that children have the right to express their views freely on all matters affecting them and to have those views given due weight in policy-making, administrative proceedings, schools and the home. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 39)

85. Hong Kong is encouraged to provide more detailed information on how it is strengthening its efforts to ensure that children have the right to express their views freely on all matters affecting them and to have those views given due weight in policy-making, administrative proceedings, schools and the home, in the next periodic report. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 39)

86. Hong Kong should systematically ensure that children’s organisations participate actively in developing policies or programmes affecting them, such as the current education reform. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 41)

A. Violence against children

87. Hong Kong should explicitly prohibit by law corporal punishment in the family, schools, institutions and all other settings, including penal institutions.(CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 48)

88. Hong Kong should expand public education and awareness-raising campaigns, with the involvement of children, on alternative non-violent forms of discipline in order to change public attitudes about corporal punishment. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 48)

89. Hong Kong should ratify the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (No. 33) as soon as possible. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 53)

90. Once ratified, Hong Kong should ensure that the legal provisions of the 1993 Hague Convention are incorporated into domestic legislation. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 53)

91. Efforts to combat abuse, neglect, violence and maltreatment should be strengthened in all parts of the Government of Hong Kong, including through mandatory reporting requirement for staff working with children, such as doctors, teachers and social workers, and the establishment of specific helplines accessible and available to children. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 56)

92. Hong Kong should define in a more explicit manner the forms of sexual abuse and increase education and training for professionals working with and for children on identification, handling and prevention of all forms of abuse. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 58)

93. Hong Kong should strengthen coordination and follow-up of individual cases of abuse, neglect and maltreatment and ensure that all victims of any form of abuse, and their families, have access to social services and assistance. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 58)

94. Hong Kong should ensure that investigations into cases of abuse, neglect and maltreatment are handled without discrimination on the basis of whether the alleged perpetrators are within or outside the family. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 58)

95. Hong Kong should further strengthen existing programmes aimed at addressing violence in schools, including with the participation of students themselves. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 78)

96. Hong Kong should use the outcome of the Regional Consultation for East Asia and the Pacific held in Thailand from 14 to 17 June 2005, as a tool for taking action, in partnership with civil society, to ensure that every child is protected from all forms of physical, sexual or mental violence, and for generating momentum for concrete and, where appropriate, time-bound actions to prevent and respond to such violence and abuse. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 59)

97. Hong Kong is urged to develop policies and programmes to adequately address the problems of malnutrition and obesity in children and to promote breastfeeding through strengthening the implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and through the promotion of baby friendly hospitals in Hong Kong. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 63)

B. Refugee and migrant children

98. Hong Kong should extend all human rights guarantees in the CRC to all children in Hong Kong, including refugees, asylum-seekers and other undocumented migrants. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 82)

99. Hong Kong should ensure that no unaccompanied child, including those from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is returned to a country where there are substantial grounds for believing that there is a real risk of irreparable harm to the child, for instance through disproportionate punishment for violating immigration laws, in accordance with the CRC Committee’s General Comment No. 6 (2005) on unaccompanied minors. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 82)

100. Hong Kong should amend legislation and regulations to ensure that all school-age children including refugees, asylum-seeking, children of migrants without the legal right to remain in Hong Kong or undocumented migrant children in Hong Kong are able to attend school without undue delay. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 82; ICESCR Concluding Observations 2005, § 101)

C. Child trafficking

101. In order to prevent and combat trafficking in children for sexual and other exploitative purposes, Hong Kong should further develop and enhance systems of early prevention of sexual exploitation and trafficking. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 88)

102. Hong Kong should further strengthen its efforts to identify and investigate trafficking cases, to improve understanding of the issues of trafficking and ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 88)

103. Hong Kong should develop and adopt a comprehensive policy to prevent and combat sexual exploitation and trafficking in children, including the root causes and factors that place children at risk of such exploitation. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 88)

104. Hong Kong should provide adequate programmes of assistance and reintegration for sexually exploited and/or trafficked children in accordance with the Declaration and Agenda for Action and the Global Commitment adopted at the 1996 and 2001 World Congresses against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 88)

105. Hong Kong should ratify the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (2000). (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 88)

D. Juvenile justice

106. Hong Kong should provide training on relevant international standards to those responsible for administering juvenile justice. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 92)

107. Hong Kong should raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to an internationally acceptable level. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 94)

108. Hong Kong should abolish life sentences for persons who committed offences when they were under the age of 18. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 94)

109. Hong Kong should ensure that all children under the age of 18 are consistently accorded special protection when coming into conflict with the law, and that their cases are heard in specialised juvenile courts by appropriately trained magistrates. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 94)

110. Hong Kong should ensure that deprivation of liberty is always used as a last resort, and strengthen and expand possibilities for alternative sentences, such as mediation, probation, community service or suspended sentences. (CRC Concluding Observations 2005, § 94)