§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Answer of the Baroness Chalker of Wallasey on 23 October 1995 (WA 101), whether the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and of the International Covenant on Economic and Social and Cultural Rights, as applied to Hong Kong, will remain in force after 1997 in terms of the reporting obligations imposed by each covenant to ensure international supervision of the observance of the rights recognised by the covenants.
§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Chalker of Wallasey)The last paragraph of Chapter XIII of Annex I to the Joint Declaration (JD 156), reflected in Article 39 of the Basic Law, obliges China to ensure that the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as applied to Hong Kong, remain in force. The British Government firmly believes that the continued operation of the provisions of the Covenants, as prescribed by JD 156 and BL 39, necessarily entails continuing reporting to the UN Human Rights Committee as required by the covenants.
We have described to the Chinese Government reporting procedures under the covenants and how the United Kingdom fulfils its obligations in respect of Hong Kong under the covenants. We have also made our views known to China as to how it may fulfil its obligations under JD 156. We will continue to work for a satisfactory resolution of this question.