Hong Kong - Human Rights Issues Prior to 1997

In October 1992, we published a book discussing human rights issues in Hong Kong. The name of the book is Hong Kong Human Rights Issues Prior to 1997. The signing of the Sino-British Joint declaration in September 1984 marked the beginning of Hong Kong's transition from a British colony to a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. Many changes have to take place making the future full of economic and political uncertainties.

The main concern of the people of Hong Kong of course is whether their freedom will have enough safeguards beyond 1997. Presently, people can enjoy freedom in Hong Kong, but this largely depends on the good will of the colonial government. In fact many laws prevalent in Hong Kong have furnished the government with powers that could be abused to infringe the rights of people. The human rights concerns took on special significance in the aftermath of 1989 June 4th Massacre in China.

This booklet is a collection of articles and reports by Hong Kong people on a wide range of human rights issues in Hong Kong, such as existing laws infringing human rights in Hong Kong and comments on the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance 1991. Instead of confining ourselves to civil and political rights, we have endeavoured to provide a wider perspective to include human rights issues of different sectors and minorities, such as labour, women, Vietnamese refugees and foreign domestic helpers. We hope that this book can provide a general picture of the human rights situation in Hong Kong and arouse concerns on Hong Kong.

"Working in the Zone"

The book, published in December 1992, was written by Professor T. Hettiarachchy about the living and social situation of female labourers in the Free Trade Zone at Katunayake of Sri Lanka. The strategy of development through export promotion was adopted by many Third World countries in Asia. In Sri Lanka, a period of export promotion began and Free Trade Zones started to play an increasingly important role in the national economy. An aspect of the export promotion drive which has not received the attention it deserves is the multitude of socio-economic problems which emerged as a result of the establishment of Free Trade Zones in Sri Lanka.

This book is based on a survey in the Free Trade Zones at Katunayake carried out by Professor T. Hettiarachchy at the request of the Greater Colombo Economic Commission. The subject was looked at primarily from the perspective of the female labour force and the various problems encountered by them relating to their work, their living conditions and their social situation.








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