The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (“Committee”) completed its latest review of China, including Hong Kong and Macau, on their implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (“Convention”). The Committee issued its concluding observations yesterday (30 May) in Hong Kong time, which elaborated the its concerns and recommendations for the three governments.
In the concluding observations, the Committee expressly stated its concern over the planned International Women’s Day march which was cancelled “purportedly for security reasons” (para. 74(b)) It recommends the Hong Kong government to take into consideration the paramount importance of the right of peaceful assembly and refrain from “over-prioritizing public order and security concerns” when considering restrictions on democratic manifestations such as the Women’s Day march.
The Committee also remains concerned that the Convention is not directly applicable in the national courts of all parts of China (including Hong Kong) and this its provisions have not been directly invoked nor applied in courts. As such, the Committee recommends that China should fully integrate the provisions of the Convention into the national legal system, and requests the Hong Kong government to provide a follow up report on the implementation of this recommendation within 2 years. The governments shall also ensure that the Convention and general recommendations are made an integral part of systematic capacity-building for all judges to enable them to directly apply the Convention and interpret national legal provisions in light of the Convention, as well as of regular training for prosecutors, lawyers, police officers and other law enforcement officials, as well as government officials.
Regarding the measures taken by China (including Hong Kong) to contain the COVID-19 pandemic (such as restrictions on freedom of movement), the Committee is concerned that they have disproportionately restricted females’ access to justice, shelters, education, employment and health care. The Committee suggests that the governments should ensure the equal participation of females in the design and implementation of COVID-19 recovery programmes; and ensure that females benefit equally from stimulus packages provided by the governments.
Other recommendations made for the Hong Kong government includes:
- Adopt comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation;
- Strengthen the legislative framework to protect women’s human rights, including amending the Sex Discrimination Ordinance, and adopt legislation on sexual orientation discrimination, gender expression discrimination, and discrimination based on physical characteristics;
- Urgently enact new law on sexual offences that incorporates a definition of rape, which is based on lack of consent, covers any non-consensual sexual act, and takes into account all coercive circumstances, in line with international human rights standards; The Committee requested a follow up report from the Hong Kong government on the implementation of this recommendation within 2 years;
- Noting that the Women’s Commission’s mandate to promote the advancement of women is weak, the Committee recommended the government to allocate adequate resources to the Women’s Commission and enable it to monitor and publicly report on the women’s human rights; and strengthen its cooperation with independent women’s rights organizations;
- Regarding women migrant domestic workers, repeal the live-in rule or ensure that it is available on an optional basis;
- Continue its efforts to combat intersecting forms of discrimination against lesbian, transsexual and transgender women in employment, education and in accessing health services.
The spokesperson of Hong Kong Centre for Human Rights said:
“We urge the Hong Kong government to accept and promptly implement all the recommendations made by the Committee, and stop the human rights violations immediately.”
“Despite the Hong Kong government’s baseless accusations of false information from civil society groups (“CSOs”) at the opening of the review, we are grateful that the Committee has adopted many views and observations contributed by CSOs, and has made recommendations accordingly, including the concern about the cancelled Women’s Day march, urging the government to respect freedom of assembly, and suggesting the government to enhance judges’ and law enforcement officers’ understanding of the Convention. We hope that the Committee and other international organizations will continue to adopt the information and observations of CSOs in the future, and should not accept any groundless allegations made by the Hong Kong government.”
“The Chinese and Hong Kong governments have so far refused to guarantee that participation in international human rights mechanisms will not violate the law, and have refused to promise that there will be no retaliation. We urge the Committee and the public to closely watch the situation as to whether the CSOs participating in the current review will be retaliated against by the Hong Kong government in the future.”
“Before the review, we have submitted to the Committee the violations of human rights stemming from the National Security Law (see our submission). Although the Committee did not address this issue directly in the concluding observations, we urge the Hong Kong government to heed the observations and recommendations by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities regarding the National Security Law, and cease violating rights and freedoms of the Hong Kong people immediately.”
The Hong Kong Centre for Human Rights will continue to monitor the Hong Kong government’s implementation of all of the recommendations by the United Nations human rights treaty bodies. The Centre has recently reviewed the Hong Kong Government’s implementation of the latest recommendations made by the Human Rights Committee and regret to find that it had refused to implement the recommendations.