Ahead of a UN meeting in Geneva tomorrow that will discuss Hong Kong's proposed racial-discrimination legislation, lawmaker Anson Chan Fang On-sang has said the government's handling of the issue 'reflects a lack of political will'.
The UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination will meet to discuss Hong Kong's race discrimination bill, which was tabled for lawmakers' consideration in December 2006.
Representatives from different human rights groups, Hong Kong Bar Association chairman Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung and Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee, chairwoman of the bill's committee, will attend the Geneva meeting, but no representative from the Hong Kong government will be there.
Legislators and rights groups are frustrated that the government has not been willing to remove clauses in the bill that exempt the government from legal liability.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has previously commented on the bill in a letter to Beijing that was handed on to the Hong Kong government. The city responded by saying that the bill excluded 'the statutory right to seek redress against racial discrimination perpetrated by state authorities'.
However, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Stephen Lam Sui-lung told the Legislative Council bills committee last Wednesday that the law would be amended to make it binding on the government.
