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Following is the full text of the opening statement by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr W K Lam, in the hearing of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights today (April 27):

Madam Chair, Distinguished Members of the Committee:

I am grateful to you for the opportunity to present our report.

The team

As Secretary for Home Affairs, I am the policy secretary responsible for human rights, and I have the honour to lead the team. My deputy in the delegation is Bob Allcock, the Solicitor-General, from our Department of Justice. Mr Allcock is supported by Stephen Wong, the Deputy Solicitor-General, and Amy Chan, a Senior Government Counsel.

As we want to respond to the Committee's questions spontaneously, and in as comprehensively a manner as possible given the limited time, we have included in our delegation representatives from policy bureaux - that is, the equivalent of Ministries in sovereign jurisdictions - which are responsible for the various policy issues with which we believe the Committee is most concerned. These include housing, labour and welfare. Thus, Elaine Chung, the Deputy Secretary for Housing, will answer questions on housing; Erica Ng from our Education and Manpower Bureau is here to answer questions on labour policy as well as any questions you may have on education; Brenda Fung and Diane Wong from the Health and Welfare Bureau will address your concerns on welfare and other health matters.

For those of you who have questions outside those areas, John Dean from my own Home Affairs Bureau will try to address them. Mr Dean will also assist me in answering questions relating to human rights policy in general.

My Chief Information Officer, David Chan is here also, with a view to facilitating press coverage.

Background

It is now nearly five years since a Hong Kong delegation last stood before this Committee, in 1996. Those members who were present on that occasion may recall that the then Solicitor-General, who led the Hong Kong team, discussed with you Hong Kong's impending reunification with the People's Republic of China. Then, many local and international observers harboured anxieties about the prospect of Hong Kong's continued obligation to submit reports to this Committee and the Human Rights Committee after the change of sovereignty in 1997. Madam Chair, any doubt on that front should now have been dispelled by our presence here today.

Since we last met, Hong Kong, like the rest of Asia, has weathered the severe storm of the Asian economic crisis. The signs are that we have come through the hardest times, though not unscathed, and though we are still a little apprehensive of the squalls that might come. Still, there was general relief when unemployment levels fell from an unprecedented high of 6.3% in mid-1999 to 4.6% in the first quarter of this year. Meanwhile, we registered a 10.5 % real growth in GDP last year.

Against this background, I would now like to address the issues that I know is of central concern to the Committee.

Poverty

That Hong Kong is an economic prodigy of tremendous growth in the last fifty years is a well-known truth. We owe our wealth to strong local and international investment as well as to the determination of our people to build an ever better life for themselves and their families. However, we do not pretend that we have shaken off poverty altogether. Indeed, the problem of poverty and low income is still steeped in some sectors of our community.

The general policy of our Government has long been to allow all our citizens to benefit from economic growth, and to enable disadvantaged sectors of the community to raise themselves out of poverty. We do so through the provision of education and training opportunities, as well as the facilitation of the free and fair operation of market forces which have successfully generated jobs and wealth for the population over the last half-century.

The reasons for poverty are multi-faceted, but one central factor contributing to low income for certain sectors in Hong Kong in recent years has been the inability of those members of our community with little education or vocational training to fit in our continually restructuring economy. Given the global trend towards the development of knowledge-based industries, jobs for the unskilled and semi-skilled are being trimmed to give way to high-skilled and thus more costly positions. Our grassroot workers have been further and badly hit by the onslaught of the Asian economic crisis more recently, which saw many employers cutting jobs to save costs, and particularly, jobs for marginal labour. Many have fallen into unemployment and under-employment over the years, exacerbating the condition of poverty and low income among the labour class in Hong Kong. We do, however, expect job opportunities for the unskilled and semi-skilled to improve again gradually with economic recovery.

There is no quick fix to the problem of poverty, as other governments have found out. Our Government, however, is resolved to tackle the issue at its roots, and we do so, and must do so, through education and retraining.

In his policy address of October 2000, the Chief Executive has emphasised that "our education policy is at the very core of our social policy. And our most important long-term social investment is in education". Total expenditure on education now amounts to 4.25% of our GDP, and the expenditure level has jumped by 43% compared to that before our reunification. Additional subsidised school places will be provided to enable more young people to complete full secondary education. Professional diploma and sub-degree courses will be expanded substantially over the next decade to enable 60% of our senior secondary school leavers to receive tertiary education.

On re-education and re-training, it is our Government's belief that the incumbent low-skilled workers and unemployed, who might have received little education, will benefit from some measure of formal education. To that end, our Government will seek to provide formal secondary education to those already in the labour market and who have the interest to go back to school. They will also receive focused training to enable them to upgrade their skills in their familiar trade and industry.

At the same time, our Government has, without compromising the principle of market economy, sought to provide additional employment opportunities through public investment. We shall create more jobs by investing further in needy areas, such as services for patients, single-parent families, the elderly, the infirm and the disabled. These enhanced public services will have the effect of expanding our labour market in the service sector in the long term. More jobs have been, and will be, created by expediting investment in worthwhile infrastructural projects such as environmental improvement. But we cannot rely on the public coffer to create sustainable employment opportunities. Only those created by sustained economic growth will endure.

At the same time, we recognise that the problem of poverty and low income for some need to be addressed in more immediate ways. Direct assistance is provided through our Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme, which is our safety net for those who lack financial means. And, of course, our housing, health care, welfare, education and rehabilitation programmes also provide social wages to the economically disadvantaged.

Before leaving this topic, I would like to refer to the concerns expressed in the Committee's Statement on "Globalisation and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights" published in May 1998. Hong Kong is no stranger to the numerous processes collectively referred to as "globalisation". Hong Kong has long been a globalised economic entity. International trade has been our life-blood. It is within this context that our social and economic policies have developed over the years. There is no question of their being compromised in the interests of international trading conditions.

Progressive implementation of the Covenant

In its General Comments, the Committee has emphasised the importance of the progressive implementation of the Covenant. By that, we understand that Parties are expected to demonstrate in the reporting procedure the progress that they have made towards that end. With that in mind, I would like to mention some specific areas in which we have made significant progress since we last appeared before the Committee. These are, I must stress, merely illustrative: time and the sheer scope of the Covenant render exhaustiveness impractical. Thus -

(a) with regard to Article 3 of the Covenant concerning equal rights for men and women, we have established a Women's Commission to develop a long-term strategy for the development and advancement of women, to advise the Government on policies and initiatives of concern to women, and to enable women to fully realise their due status, rights, and opportunities in all aspects of life;

(b) with regard to Article 11 paragraph (1), concerning the right to, inter alia, housing, we are pleased to say that the percentage of inadequately housed households fell from 10.3% in 1995 to 6.3% in 2000. We expect this percentage to steadily decline in the coming years. As part of that process, all households currently living in temporary housing areas, cottage areas and squatter areas in the urban areas will have moved to public rental housing or Home Ownership estates by the end of 2001;

(c) Further, the average waiting time for public rental housing has nearly halved from nine years a decade ago to about 4.7 years now. We are confident of reducing it further to three years by 2003. Additionally, we have made two pledges to improve housing for elderly people. The first is that all elderly households that applied for rehousing before March 2001 will be rehoused before the end of 2003. The second is that the average waiting time for elderly single persons seeking public rental housing will be reduced to two years by 2005;

(d) In our report, we explained the wide range of measures being taken to help new immigrants from Mainland China to integrate and to adapt to life in Hong Kong. We are spending about HK$500M this year alone for the purpose. These efforts will continue.

Before I conclude, I wish to advise the Committee of a development that has occurred since we submitted the response. This concerns our reservations and declarations under the Covenant. The Committee will be aware that China has now ratified the Covenant and has lodged amended reservations and declarations on our behalf. These will take effect on 27th June this year. In specific terms -

(a) The declaration in respect of Article 1 will no longer apply.

(b) The reservation against Article 7 concerning equal pay for men and women for equal work in the private sector will also cease to apply; and

(c) An interpretative declaration will replace the former reservation against Article 8 concerning the right of trade unions to form federations within the HKSAR and to affiliate with organisations of workers, employers and relevant professional organisations in foreign countries. This change of position reflects the progress made in our domestic laws with regard to those rights;

(d) A reservation against Article 6 will continue to apply. This remains necessary to provide us with flexibility in formulating measures to protect the interest and employment opportunities of local workers.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Madam Chair, I wish to reiterate the HKSAR Government's firm commitment to take steps to achieve progressively the full realisation of the rights recognised in the Covenant. I appreciate that, ideally, the Committee would wish us to have implemented all the recommendations made to us. But I believe that the improvement that we have made since the last report do provide substantive evidence of a considerable step forward.

Madam Chair, my delegation members and I are ready to take questions from the Committee. Thank you.

End/Friday, April 27, 2001

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