Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Ratification: 1997)

Article 1(a) of the Convention. Imposition of prison sentences involving the obligation to work as a punishment for expressing certain political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, social or economic system. For a number of years, the Committee has been referring to the following legislative provisions under which penalties of imprisonment (involving compulsory prison labour, pursuant to rule 38 of the Prison Rules) may be imposed:

• – printing, publishing, selling, distributing, importing, etc., of seditious publications or uttering seditious words (section 10 of the Crimes Ordinance, Cap. 200);
• – various violations of the prohibition on printing and publication (sections 18(i) and 20 of the Registration of Local Newspapers Ordinance, Cap. 268; regulations 9 and 15 of the News Agencies Registration Regulations, Cap. 268A; regulations 8 and 19 of the Newspaper Registration and Distribution Regulations, Cap. 268B; regulations 7 and 13 of the Printed Documents (Control) Regulations, Cap. 268C);
• – various contraventions of regulations of public meetings, processions and gatherings (section 17A of the Public Order Ordinance, Cap. 245).

The Committee notes the Government’s repeated statement that freedom of the press, as well as freedom of opinion and expression are protected under the Basic Law and the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance (Cap. 383). The Government also indicates that no cases relating to the application of the Convention have been brought before the courts.

In this connection, the Committee notes that, in its concluding observations regarding the report of Hong Kong, China, the UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern about the application in practice of certain terms contained in the Public Order Ordinance (e.g. “disorder in public places” or “unlawful assembly”), which may facilitate excessive restriction to civil and political rights. It also expressed concern about the increasing number of arrests of, and prosecutions against demonstrators. With regard to freedom of opinion and expression, the UN Committee expressed concern about reports that the country has seen a deterioration in media and academic freedom, including arrests, assaults and harassment of journalists and academics. (CCPR/C/CHN-HKG/CO/3, 29 April 2013, paragraphs 10 and 13).

The Committee recalls that Article 1(a) of the Convention prohibits punishment by penalties involving compulsory labour, including compulsory prison labour, of persons who, without having recourse to violence, express political opinions or views opposed to the established political, social or economic system. The Committee therefore expresses the firm hope that appropriate measures will be taken with a view to bringing the above provisions into conformity with the Convention, either by limiting their scope to acts of violence or incitement to violence, or by replacing sanctions involving compulsory labour with other kinds of sanctions (e.g. fines), in order to ensure that no sanctions involving compulsory labour can be imposed as a punishment for holding or expressing political views. In order to ascertain that the above provisions are not applied to acts through which citizens seek to secure the dissemination and acceptance of their views, the Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on their application in practice, supplying copies of court decisions defining or illustrating their scope.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.