The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (“Committee”) will hold meetings in Geneva from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on 15 and 16 February 2023 (which is 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. of the same day in Hong Kong time) to discuss the human rights situations of Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China.
By considering the State reports submitted by the three governments, along with the parallel reports and information provided by civil society organisations, the Committee is going to discuss and raise questions on the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (“ICESCR”) and the protection of economic, social and cultural rights (“ESC rights”) in Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China.
Journalists and members of the public can watch the entire meetings online via the livestream TV of the United Nations webpage.
| UN Web TV: https://media.un.org/en/webtv/schedule Meeting on 15 Feb: https://media.un.org/en/asset/k10/k10ledzwso Meeting on 16 Feb: https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1v/k1vrez9w0u |
Hong Kong Centre for Human Rights (“HKCHR”) will also update the people on the major developments of the meetings through social media platforms. HKCHR has already submitted a parallel report to the Committee on 16 January 2023 (full report: https://tinyurl.com/w7b3hk9f), which illustrated the difficulties and threats faced by Hongkongers when they are exercising their ESC rights. We urge the Committee to express concerns over the deteriorating human rights situations in Hong Kong, and demand the Hong Kong government to cease violating human rights and take remedial actions immediately.
Background:
The Committee regularly reviews each State party’s implementation of the ICESCR in order to monitor their fulfilment of their obligations under the treaty and to improve human rights. The Committee would issue concluding observations after each review to detail the Committee’s concerns and recommendations for the State party to better discharge their obligations under the treaty.
The ICESCR applies to Hong Kong. Hong Kong government submitted the 4th report to the Committee in December 2019 as pursuant to the mechanism and Committee’s request. According to the Committee’s programme of work, it will hold meetings with the Chinese government including Hong Kong and Macau SARs from 15th to 16th February to raise questions about human rights issues. After the meetings, the Committee will issue concluding observations to elaborate the Committee’s concerns and recommendations for Hong Kong.
Reference:
Fourth periodic report submitted by Hong Kong, China under articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant, due in 2019 (received by UN in December 2019) https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=E%2FC.12%2FCHN-HKG%2F4&Lang=en
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ List of issues in relation to the fourth periodic report of Hong Kong, China (released in April 2021)
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=E%2FC.12%2FCHN-HKG%2FQ%2F4&Lang=en
Replies of Hong Kong, China to the list of issues in relation to its fourth periodic report (received by UN in March 2022)
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=E%2FC.12%2FCHN%2FRQ-HKG%2F4&Lang=en
Proposed Programme of Work of Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 73rd session
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=INT%2FCESCR%2FINF%2F73%2F34197&Lang=en