HONG KONG

World Report Entry 1998

Prison Conditions in 1997
How Hong Kong will function under Chinese sovereignty and, in particular, how the territory's prisons will be administered, is not yet clear. Few if any groups are more vulnerable to the impact of political change than prisoners. Given China's notoriously poor prison conditions and its frequent use of capital punishment, it comes as no surprise that Hong Kong prisoners have already expressed grave apprehensions regarding their treatment under Chinese rule. Because of these considerations, Human Rights Watch and the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor decided in 1996 to investigate the human rights conditions of the territory's prisons. The purpose of the investigation was to establish a benchmark of prison conditions prior to the changeover. It was also meant to establish a precedent of independent monitoring of Hong Kong's prison conditions, to encourage future monitoring. Indeed, our inspections of the territory's prisons, which took place in March and April 1997, are to our knowledge the first full inspections of the facilities ever conducted by independent nongovernmental organizations. This report, which is based primarily on information gathered during these inspections, describes and evaluates the treatment of prisoners confined in Hong Kong prisons under the authority of the Hong Kong Correctional Services Department (CSD).
(C905) 6/97, 51 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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Abuses against Vietnamese Asylum Seekers in the Final Days of the Comprehensive Plan of Action
One hundred and fifty-five years of British colonial rule will come to an end in Hong Kong on July 1, 1997. As agreed in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong, the territory will revert to Chinese rule and become a Special Administrative Region of China. Even before the changeover, China is increasingly exercising its authority over the territory on a number of issues and has directed, for instance, that all the Vietnamese be cleared from Hong Kong before July 1. Such pressure has spurred the Hong Kong government to redouble its efforts to resolve the Vietnamese situation, which has embroiled the territory in controversy for over twenty years.
(C902) 3/97, 22 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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REFUGEES AT RISK
Forced Repatriation of Vietnamese From Hong Kong
On May 12, 1992 Britain concluded a secret agreement with Vietnam on the repatriation of Vietnamese asylum-seekers who had arrived in Hong Kong before October 29, 1991. Although unpublished to date, various features of the agreement have been made public by the parties. The agreement includes a stipulation that no persons deemed to be genuine refugees are to be forcibly returned, and that Vietnam will not punish persons for their act in illegally leaving the country. This agreement, however, does not protect two groups of Vietnamese: those genuine refugees who have been unfairly screened out, such as ethnic Nung soldiers who fought against the communist forces during the war, and those persons that Vietnam may wish to punish because of political acts they committed while in Hong Kong.
(C421) 8/92, 11 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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