Police brutality and inadequate oversight of officers will be highlighted by party, lawmaker says
SAMUEL CHAN
SAMUEL.CHAN@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Monday, 09 November, 2015, 5:18pm
UPDATED : Monday, 09 November, 2015, 5:21pm
Democratic Party lawmaker Emily Lau Wai-hing. Photo: Felix Wong
Police brutality, inadequate oversight of officers, ineffective screening mechanisms for asylum seekers and the plight of foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong will be the issues the Democratic Party will highlight at a hearing in Geneva next week held by the United Nations Committee Against Torture, according to a lawmaker from the party.
Speaking before her scheduled departure later this week, Democratic Party lawmaker Emily Lau Wai-hing said any recommendations made by the committee - though non-binding - would at least require the government to explain at an international conference why it has refused to implement measures rights groups have demanded.
At a two-day hearing to be held next Tuesday and Wednesday, the committee will discuss the implementation of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishments in Hong Kong and mainland China.
READ MORE: Police fire tear gas as Occupy Central spreads and ranks of protesters swell
“It [the committee] has no power to threaten or order the SAR government to do anything ... but if the government refuses to implement any [of the committee’s recommendations], it would need to give an explanation,” Lau said.
Among recommendations the government has repeatedly ignored, she said, was the setting up of an external version of the Complaints Against Police Office with power to conduct independent investigations.
During the hearing, representatives from the central government and the Hong Kong government will present their separate reports, while non-governmental organisations will also separately present their findings to the committee.
In a report to be submitted to the committee, the Democratic Party describes the Hong Kong government’s efforts to implement the convention in the past few years as “feeble, haphazard and insufficient”.
“We urge the committee to ask the HKSAR government to conduct an independent inquiry to find out why 87 rounds of tear gas were fired at peaceful demonstrators, and why excessive force was used on peaceful demonstrators and journalists,” the report reads, referring to last year’s Occupy protests.
Lau said her party would also call on the committee to pressure the government to allocate more resources to ensure a more effective and fair mechanism to assess the claims of the 10,450 asylum seekers now in Hong Kong.
The party would also urge the committee to allocate more resources and power to the Labour Department to step up its oversight of the city’s more than 1,000 employment agencies to ensure the safety of domestic helpers.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1877092/democratic-party-will-raise-hong-kong-polices-occupy
