Reporting on Hong Kong to UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies: For Better or Worse Since 1997?

Abstract

The year 2007 marked the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region within the People's Republic of China (PRC). In the years leading up to the change of sovereignty on 1 July 1997, the United Kingdom made several international human rights treaties applicable to Hong Kong. These included the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Since 1997, the treaties have continued to apply to Hong Kong, with the PRC submitting reports on behalf of Hong Kong to United Nations (UN) monitoring committees. The following article examines the reporting process with respect to Hong Kong, focusing on Hong Kong's reports submitted under the ICCPR and ICESCR. It recalls the grave concerns before 1997 about the future of the UN human rights reporting process in Hong Kong and analyses the extent to which that process has changed since 1997. It finds that fears expressed before the change of sovereignty have largely proved unfounded. Nevertheless, the article identifies certain concerns and pinpoints ways to improve the current process.