民主黨今天去信聯合國人權委員會，要求聯合國關注及跟進有關港人參選權受不合理限制一事，信件內容詳見如下：

5 August 2016

Mr. Fabián Omar Salvioli

Chairperson

Human Rights Committee

Ms. Sarah Cleveland

Special Rapporteur on follow-up to concluding observations

of Human Rights Committee

By email: ccpr@ohchr.org

Dear Mr. Salvioli and Ms. Cleveland,

Hong Kong localist candidates disqualified from

standing for Legislative Council election

I am writing on behalf of the Democratic Party to draw your attention to a disturbing development regarding the upcoming Legislative Council election on 4 September.

Hong Kong people who wished to stand for election began submitting their nomination forms on 16 July. They were asked by the Returning Officer to sign a form undertaking to uphold the Basic Law and pledge allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of the People's Republic of China (PRC). This is a practice which has been adopted since the change of sovereignty in 1997 and has never been called into question.

However on 14 July, the Electoral Affairs Commission, headed by Mr. Barnabas Fung, a judge of the Court of First Instance of the High Court, and staffed by civil servants, announced that candidates are also required to sign a "Confirmation Form" which says the candidate understands to uphold the Basic Law means to uphold the Basic Law including three articles which refer to the HKSAR as an inalienable part of the PRC.

The move was seen by many Hong Kong people as a ploy to disqualify people who advocate Hong Kong independence from running in the Legislative Council election.

Many candidates from pro-democracy parties refused to sign the "Confirmation Form" but were declared validly nominated. However six localist candidates, including Mr. Edward Leung, the spokesman of Hong Kong Indigenous, were barred from running by the Registration and Electoral Office, which operates under Justice Fung. Ironically, Mr. Leung stood in the Legislative Council by-election on 28 February and received more than 60,000 votes. The other five people are Mr. Chan Ho-tin, Mr. Yeung Ke-cheong, Mr. Nakade Hitsujiko, Ms. Alice Lai and Mr. Chan Kwok-keung.

Although Mr. Leung signed the "Confirmation Form" and pledged to abandon his call for Hong Kong independence, he was still barred from running in the Legislative Council election because the Returning Officer said she did not believe him.

The decision to bar six localists from standing in the Legislative Council election has caused wide spread anger and dismay. Many people questioned the legal basis on which the Returning Officers made their decisions, and suspected they were acting under orders from the central government in Beijing to ban candidates who advocate Hong Kong independence from standing for Legislative Council election.

The Democratic Party condemns the disqualification of the six localists as a form of political screening. We also think there is no legal basis for the Returning Officers to make such determination. In so doing, the Administration of Mr. C. Y. Leung, the HKSAR Chief Executive, has violated Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which guarantees the Hong Kong people's right to hold opinions without interference and right to freedom of expression, including freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds.

The disqualification also contravenes Article 16 of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance, which enshrines in local legislation the rights guaranteed by the ICCPR. These rights are also protected by Article 39 of the Basic Law, which says provisions of the ICCPR shall remain in force and shall be implemented through the laws of the HKSAR.

Barring the six localists from standing for election also contravenes Article 26 of the Basic Law, which stipulates permanent residents of the HKSAR shall have the right to vote and the right to stand for election.

According to the Concluding observations on the third periodic report of Hong Kong, China published in March 2013, the Human Rights Committee said Hong Kong "should take all necessary measures to implement universal and equal suffrage in conformity with the Covenant as a matter of priority for all future elections. Hong Kong, China should outline clear and detailed plans on how universal and equal suffrage might be instituted and ensure enjoyment by all its citizens, under the new electoral system, of the right to vote and to stand for election in compliance with article 25 of the Covenant."

The Democratic Party condemns the Leung Administration’s decision to take away the right of the six people to stand for Legislative Council Election, which is a violation of the Covenant and seriously undermines the rule of law and the people’s enjoyment of their basic rights. We call on the Human Rights Committee and the Special Rapporteur on follow-up to concluding observations of the Committee to take urgent action by expressing concern over the decisions to ban the localists and call on the HKSAR government to rescind the decisions. Thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Emily Lau

Chairperson

Democratic Party

Member

Legislative Council

cc   :   Chief Executive’s Office

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