LegCo Paper No. CB(2) 322/96-97
Ref : CB2/PL/HA

LegCo Panel on Home Affairs

Minutes of Working Group Meeting
held on Tuesday, 15 October 1996 at 10:45 a.m.
in Conference Room C of the Legislative Council Building

Members Present :

    Hon Mrs Elizabeth WONG, ISO, JP (Chairman of the Working Group)
    Hon Emily LAU Wai-hing
    Hon LAW Chi-kwong
    Hon Bruce LIU Sing-lee

Clerk in Attendance :

Mrs Anna LO
Chief Assistant Secretary (2) 2

Staff in Attendance :

Mr Raymond LAM
Senior Assistant Secretary (2) 6

Third Periodic Report in respect of Hong Kong under Articles 2 to 16 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

(LegCo Paper No. CB(2) 122/96-97)

Members considered the second draft submission (LegCo Paper No. CB(2) 122/96-97) to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and noted the comments of Miss Christine LOH, who was able to attend the meeting, on "Right to housing" and "Economic restructuring and income disparity". Members noted that according to unverified statistics provided by the Security Branch for the period 1 January 1995 to 30 September 1996, 22 out of 95,130 legal immigrants from China had waited for more than 300 months before approved for settlement in Hong Kong, while 12,753 had waited for less than 12 months. It was agreed to incorporate these statistics into the paragraphs on "split families".

2. Apart from textual amendments, members agreed to obtain more information from the Housing Panel for amplification of paragraphs on housing. A paragraph on the high rent in private housing would also be added, subject to availability of relevant information from the Housing Panel. It was agreed that the submission should also incorporate a concluding paragraph. Members also agreed to condense the section on "Education for Vietnamese migrant children" in view of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s support, at its thirteenth session held in early October 1996, for Members’ concern on this issue.

3. It was agreed that the third draft submission would be circulated to members of the Working Group for comments. The final draft submission, incorporating members’ comments, if any, would be presented to the Home Affairs Panel for endorsement on 25 October 1996.

(Post-meeting note : The third draft submission was issued vide LegCo Paper No. CB(2) 177/96-97)

4. The meeting ended at 12:25 p.m.

LegCo Secretariat
24 October 1996

Last Updated on 19 August 1998