In
any given civilized society, the enactment of any national security laws
requires a delicate balance between protection of national interest and the
safeguarding of basic rights and freedoms of people of that society. Such a
balance assumes a far greater importance in the case of Hong Kong SAR under the
concept of "One Country, Two Systems".
The Hong Kong SAR
Government rightly adopts the guiding principle that there is a need to ensure
that all offences encompassed by legislation to implement Article 23 should be
as clearly and tightly defined as appropriate, "so as to avoid uncertainty
and the infringement of fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Basic
Law".
Nevertheless,
despite the adoption of this principle, the Consultation Paper disappointingly
fails to define clearly and tightly the Article 23 offences or to identify with
precision any safeguards as regards the fundamental rights and freedoms
guaranteed by the Basic Law. The Government's reticence in spelling out where
the line is to be drawn and its inexplicably rigid refusal to follow the usual
legislative procedure for important legislations by issuing a White Bill for
proper and wider consultation has left the people of Hong Kong totally
uninformed as to how the proposed legislation will affect their aforesaid
guaranteed rights and freedoms.
In these
circumstances, we, as members of the legal community, see it our duty to
identify the areas of concern in order to enable the people of Hong Kong to
make a proper and informed decision as to whether the proposed legislation
should be supported in its entirety without question or pause.
We have decided
to issue a series of pamphlets, each focusing on a particular offence or area,
to explain to the people of Hong Kong, how the proposed legislation will affect
their guaranteed rights and freedoms. We sincerely hope these pamphlets will
help to bring into proper focus the areas of concern and the people of Hong
Kong and the SAR Government will be encouraged to engage in a calm and rational
dialogue with each other on these areas in order to achieve the identified goal
that any legislation to be enacted under Article 23 will be clearly and tightly
drawn so as to avoid uncertainty and the infringement of our guaranteed
fundamental rights and freedoms.
Dated this 15th
day of November 2002
Professor
Johannes Chan
Mr. Denis Chang,
S.C.
Mr. Mark Daly
Professor Michael
Davis
Miss Audrey Eu,
S.C.
Mr. Alan Leong,
S.C.
Miss Gladys Li,
S.C
Miss Christine
Loh
Miss Margaret Ng
Mr. Ronny Tong,
S.C.