A delegation from the Macao SAR government has addressed human rights issues in the first of three sessions with the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee, regarding the SAR’s freedom of assembly and human rights. of sexual minorities.
During the evaluation sessions that take place between the July 13 and 15the Macao SAR should submit to the Committee’s scrutiny, made up of 18 independent international experts, on how it is implementing the Covenant, as well as the Committee’s previous recommendations, and discuss the human rights situation in Macao with UN officials.
The Human Rights Committee also received reports and other presentations from Macao non-governmental organizations that addressed various SAR issues, with some joining the briefings with the Committee.
In the first session – held online – the UN representatives expressed their concern about the right to freedom of assembly in the SAR, especially addressing the obstruction by the Macao government of the previous acts of remembrance of the Tiananmen protests. and rallies in support of the Hong Kong democracy movement.
The session was chaired by Photini Pazartzis, Professor of International Law and Director of the Center for Public International Law in Athens and member of the UN Human Rights Committee.
The Secretary for Administration and Justice, André Cheong Weng Chon, led a delegation of 17 officials from Macao.
In response to questions raised by the committee, the advisor to the Office of the Secretary for Security, Zhang Guo Hua, indicated that, according to article 21 of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the right to liberty of assembly may be restricted “for specific reasons”, and that the Macau authorities’ decision to suspend the commemorative events of the “Tiananmen Incident” was made in accordance with the law.
In 2021, the Public Security Police Corps (CPSP) rejected the request submitted by the Macau Democratic Development Association to hold the June 4 Tiananmen Incident candlelight assembly, in the name of “pandemic prevention” .
The Secretary for Administration and Justice, André Cheong Weng Chon, led a delegation of 17 officials from Macao
The association subsequently appealed to the courts against the decision made by the police, but the appeal was rejected by the Court of Final Appeal on the grounds that the act violated the relevant provisions of the Macau Penal Code and the principle of “good faith” stipulated in the Code of Administrative Procedure.
The representative of the Macao delegation stressed at today’s session that the court ruling confirmed the illegality of the Tiananmen Incident commemorative events, noting that there are “legitimate reasons” to cancel the event if its purpose has violated the Macau Penal Code.
Likewise, the counselor stressed that when the exercises of freedom of expression and assembly have led to the open promotion of provocative, offensive, slanderous, insulting and ridiculous comments, the actions of organizing such assemblies are “of course unacceptable.”
“Therefore, the authorities’ decision is made in accordance with the law and is also a final solution,” Zhang added.
On the other hand, the adviser pointed out that protests in support of Hong Kong’s democracy movement were also banned because the purpose of the event violated the law.
The protests in question were aimed at opposing the excessive use of force by the Hong Kong police, but were subsequently banned by the SAR government and the courts, and some people who gathered at the time of the alleged protest in Senate Square were detained for questioning and later released.
Zhang stated that the theme of the event was to publicly accuse and condemn the actions carried out by the Hong Kong police authorities, and that if the Macao government allows these demonstrations against the Hong Kong police to take place, it will indicate that the government is agreed to create a platform to interfere in the internal affairs of the neighboring SAR.
“This will violate the basic principles of the SAR’s constitutional system,” said the representative of the Macao delegation.
For his part, the Head of the Macao Delegation, the Secretary for Administration and Justice, Andre Cheong Weng Chon, made a statement in which he addressed the concern for the rights of sexual minorities and affirmed that these types of issues are difficult to deal with in Asian societies, deeply influenced by traditional culture and values.
The secretary stressed that it is a challenge to review laws to obtain more legal protection for sexual minorities before a social consensus is formed, since such revisions are difficult to approve by the Legislative Assembly.
At the end of the assessment session, some UN officials questioned the Macau government’s failure to provide any substantive response to issues related to sexual minorities, including gender markers on identity documents for transgender citizens, marriage between same-sex and domestic violence laws, and called on the Macau government to provide more concrete measures to promote social awareness and acceptance of minorities.
Director of the Legal Affairs Bureau Liu Dexue responded that the SAR government had set up a special working group a few years ago to conduct a comprehensive and systematic study on these issues.
The representative reiterated that Macao, as an Asian society, is influenced by traditional Eastern culture on the issue of marriage, gender and family, and the authorities also hope to find a solution that can balance the interests of different groups and is in consistent with social consensus.
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“We have to focus on minority rights, but also majority rights,” Liu said.
Also, the director of the office of legal affairs indicated that, although the domestic violence law of Macao does not specifically include same-sex couples, the protection of these rights is implied in other general laws and can be dealt with in accordance with the provisions relevant.
some UN officials questioned the Macau government’s failure to provide any substantive response to issues related to sexual minorities
The Macau government initially proposed the inclusion of “same-sex partners” in the scope of the domestic violence law in 2011, however, the authorities decided to remove the reference to same-sex couples in 2012.
To this day, the government has yet to rectify the exclusion of same-sex couples, defying the recommendation of the UN Committee Against Torture.
After the remaining two sessions, on July 14 and 15, the UN Human Rights Committee will hold a press conference on July 27 to present its conclusions.
Although the People’s Republic of China has not ratified the ICCPR, international agreements governing the transfer of Hong Kong and Macao to China ensure that the ICCPR will continue to apply in both areas, after the United Kingdom and Portugal extended their jurisdiction to both regions, respectively.
The Human Rights Committee is one of the ten so-called “Treaty Bodies” of the UN -the guardians of the nine main international human rights treaties-, and is considered -along with other Treaty Bodies- a “quasi-judicial” body. , since it emanates from a legally binding treaty.
It reviews countries’ implementation of the ICCPR on a regular basis, usually every four to eight years, through a dedicated review process that takes into account ‘shadow’ reports from civil society.
The lists of issues for Hong Kong and Macao – the first phase of the review – were approved by the Committee in August 2020, and both regions will now undergo a formal review during the Committee’s next session, until July 27 of 2022.
Article republished under an agreement with Macau Business to share content. Link to original article: https://www.macaubusiness.com/freedom-of-assembly-and-sexual-minorities-rights-discussed-in-first-macau-sar-session-with-un-human-rights-committee/
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