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Human Rights Groups Worry Hong Kong Government Will Limit Access to Information
(Clearwisdom.net) VOA reported on December 5 that a group of law experts
and people from human rights organizations around the world met in Hong Kong.
Frances D'Souza, the leader of the group, expressed her concern that the Hong
Kong government's implementation of Article 23 of the Basic Law would hinder
personal freedom as well as access to information.
D'Souza said, "The consultation document published by the Hong Kong
government regarding the implementation of Article 23 of the Basic Law is not a
very good document. It contains very big loopholes and conflicting information.
Should this document be used as the basis for legislation, the Hong Kong people
will be living in a country ruled by the police." She thought the Hong Kong
government should refer to the Johannesburg Principles when implementing Article
23 in order to safeguard human rights and free access to information in Hong
Kong.
The Johannesburg Principles
Regina Ip, Secretary for Security in Hong Kong, met with D'Souza
on December 4. Ms. Ip said that the Hong Kong government's definition of state
security met standard of the International Human Rights Agreement, whereas there was no
country in the world that had accepted the Johannesburg Principles. The
Johannesburg Principles were established in 1995 by over thirty international
law scholars, human rights experts, judges, and lawyers. The sixth principle of
the Johannesburg Principles on National Security, Freedom of Expression and
Access to Information states:
Expressions that May Threaten National Security. Subject to Principles 15 and
16, expressions may be punished as a threat to national security only if a
government can demonstrate that:
Law Yuk-kai, Director of the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, indicated that
the reason the Hong Kong government refused to apply the Johannesburg Principles
was because many suggestions in the consultation document for Article 23 of the
Basic Law violated the Johannesburg Principles. He said, " If we compare the
government's suggestions to the Johannesburg Principles, it is not difficult to
find that our government's many suggestions contradict these principles.
Therefore, the Hong Kong government explicitly said that it was not willing to
accept the principles."
Media Reports Are To Be Restricted
Law Yuk-kai gave the following example: "Although a magazine has a
provocative nature, the actions of possessing or spreading this kind of magazine
do not involve violent behavior. It would be against the Johannesburg Principles
should one list the above actions as a punishable crime." He worried that the
implementation of Article 23 would hinder access to information. He said,
"The consultation document of Article 23 clearly states that anyone would be
committing a crime if he or she illegally exposes any information that the
government has chosen to censor."
Law Yuk-kai said that when publishing information from professionals or
scholars that relates to the government, it is difficult for newspapers and
magazines to know whether the release of the information is approved by the
government. He said, "If [the media] reports the information, they might be
committing a crime. Therefore under this kind of law, the best thing for them to
do, of course, is to not report the sensitive information."
Law Yuk-kai thought that this situation imposed a great threat to the Hong
Kong public's right to information. The Hong Kong government may interpret some
important matters as secrets and wouldn't want them revealed, especially any
information exposing the government's crimes or other scandals. The public's
right to know would be severely damaged. The Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor
suggests that the government should implement the Sunlight Law in order for the
public to freely obtain information from the media and to guarantee access to
information.
Posting date: 12/8/2002 |