The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (“Committee”) finished its review sessions of human rights situations of Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China yesterday (12 May) in Hong Kong time. The Committee will issue the concluding observations later to elaborate the Committee’s concerns and recommendations for the three governments.
Hong Kong Centre for Human Rights (“HKCHR”) is very concerned about the accusations made by the Hong Kong government at the meeting and in previous press statements that civil society organizations (CSOs) have submitted false information to the Committee. It is an attempt to discredit civil society engagement. The Centre is also worried that CSOs will face reprisal from the government.
Shirley Lam, the Permanent Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, stated in her opening statement that many of the statements in NGOs’ submissions are “based on false information and distorted narratives regardless of the truth, with flawed comments on the situation in Hong Kong”.
She mentioned two “false claims that certain NGOs have presented to the Committee”. First, she claimed that the “gender-based violence” alleged to be committed by the police was ungrounded narratives. She also said that the police complaint handling mechanism is operating effectively and fairly. Second, she disagreed with the “malicious claim” that the National Security Law (“NSL”) has interfered with women’s political rights. Instead, she believed that the implementation of the NSL has stopped the chaos and restored the stability in Hong Kong, allowing the enjoyment of rights and freedoms which many people had been unable to enjoy during the anti-extradition movement.
Moreover, the Hong Kong government did not respond to a member’s question regarding what measures the government took to protect women human rights defender and support the civil society.
The spokesperson of HKCHR said:
“We are very concerned that the Hong Kong government has yet again accused CSOs of submitting false information to UN human rights bodies. The government has so far failed to substantiate its criticisms, including specifying which report or paragraph is false and providing concrete evidence to rebut them, yet it insists on making such serious allegations to the Committee.”
“We must point out that such a biased attitude of the government towards the civil society is totally unacceptable. It could also raise fears of retaliation against CSOs. In fact, the contributions of CSOs are essential in assisting the Committee and other treaty bodies to thoroughly understand the real situations of a State Party. The effectiveness of the human rights review will be severely restricted if CSOs cannot engage with the Committee and other treaty bodies freely due to threats of reprisals.”
“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.”
“Moreover, the allegations referred to by the Hong Kong government are well founded. First, the gender-based violence (including physical and verbal violence) committed by the police during the anti-extradition movement has been clearly and thoroughly documented by CSOs (see para. 14-16 of our report). The High Court of Hong Kong has also held in 2020 that the existing police complaints mechanism was inconsistent with the Hong Kong Bill of Rights due to its lack of genuinely independent investigations. Various UN human rights bodies have consistently criticized the mechanism for its lack of independence and effectiveness. The Human Rights Committee has repeatedly urged the Hong Kong government to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations of excessive use of force by the police; in its review of Hong Kong in 2022, it again disapproved the police monitoring mechanism of Hong Kong. Regrettably the government has refused to conduct independent investigation or introduce reform (see para. 24-27 of our report).”
“Secondly, since the NSL came into effect, numerous incidents have shown that there is a severe crackdown on the civil society. Activities of women human rights defenders and groups have encountered tremendous obstacles, even a peaceful march on the International Women’s Day could not be held (see para. 1 to 13 of our report).”
Note: This session of The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women will end on 26 May. The Committee is expected to release its concluding observations on or around that day.