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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
The Legislative Council (LegCo) will hold a meeting this Wednesday (November 3) at 11am in the Chamber of the LegCo Building. During the meeting, Members will debate a motion on releasing Liu Xiaobo.
The motion, to be moved by Hon Wong Yuk-man, states: "That, as the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo, who struggles for human rights in China through peaceful, rational and non-violent means, is a significant, epoch-making event that will definitely produce profound and far-reaching impact on the progress of democratisation in China, this Council urges the Central Government to release Liu Xiaobo and all political dissidents immediately."
Hon Albert Chan and Hon Leung Kwok-hung will move amendments to Hon Wong Yuk-man's motion respectively.
Members will debate another motion on formulating an animal-family policy. The motion, to be moved by Hon Chan Hak-kan, says: "That the keeping of pets among Hong Kong people has become increasingly common, and there is also a growing concern about the rights of animals; however, the animal welfare policy in Hong Kong lags far behind the standards of other developed places in the world, and cases of animal cruelty keep occurring; tens of thousands of animals are euthanized every year, and there is still insufficient activity space for the integration of human beings and animals within the communities; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to formulate an 'animal-friendly policy' to ensure that the rights of animals can be safeguarded; the relevant policy measures should include:
(a) by making reference to the present animal protection legislation in developed places, to review and amend the existing Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance for the purpose of catching up with international standards, and to classify the intentional abandonment of animals as animal cruelty, as well as to explore the provision of compulsory psychological counselling and courses on animal protection to convicted persons;
(b) to establish 'animal police' teams specially tasked to investigate cases of animal cruelty and abandonment, enhance the training of frontline enforcement officers on handling cases of animal cruelty and their awareness of such cases, and set up a 'dedicated hotline for reporting animal cruelty', with a view to curbing the situation of animal cruelty and abandonment from becoming prevalent;
(c) to request the Department of Justice to pay close attention to the sentencing for cases of animal cruelty, and where sentencing for the cases concerned cannot fully reflect their seriousness, to seek sentencing guidelines by applying for reviews of sentences to the relevant courts, so as to truly reflect the social concern about offences of animal cruelty;
(d) to improve the existing management mechanism for the sale and registration of animals, including reviewing the licensing and regulatory mechanism for the sale and breeding of pets and stepping up the monitoring of the sources of animals, so as to combat problems such as unlicensed animal breeding and illicit animal import;
(e) to improve the hygiene conditions in the animal management centres under the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department and enhance the transparency of stray animal management by allowing Members and animal rights organisations to conduct regular inspections, increase the number of qualified animal adoption organisations and expand the scope of animals for adoption to reptiles and amphibians, so as to facilitate the adoption of animals by a greater number of people and organisations;
(f) to co-operate with District Councils and animal rights organisations to fully implement the 'Trap-Neuter-Return' programme, and use humane means to deal with the problem of stray cats and dogs;
(g) to provide subsidy to the public for neutering their pets, and train more veterinary health care personnel to meet the social demand for the services concerned;
(h) to introduce appropriate measures, including identifying sites for constructing more parks for pets, and exploring the opening of various recreational venues such as parks and beaches partially or at specific time slots, so that members of the public can bring in their pets;
(i) to actively identify suitable locations for the provision of public toilets for dogs, increase the number of dog excreta collection bins on street side and step up the frequency of cleaning and washing, with a view to improving environmental hygiene;
(j) to explore the regulation of hospice service for animals through licensing;
(k) to step up publicity and education for the public on animal care and responsible pet ownership, and set up an 'animal protection fund', so that organisations can make applications for organising more animal welfare activities; and
(l) to enhance people's understanding of endangered animals and relevant regulatory systems, and require that animal traders must provide appropriate labels for identifying endangered species, as well as to provide buyers with points to note on keeping endangered species, with a view to strengthening the management of endangered animals."
Hon Miriam Lau, Hon Fred Li, Hon Wong Kwok-hing, Dr Hon Pan Pey-chyou, Hon Alan Leong and Hon Cyd Ho will move amendments to Hon Chan Hak-kan's motion respectively.
In addition, Members will also ask the Administration 20 questions on various policy areas, six of which require oral replies.
The agenda of the above meeting can be obtained via the LegCo InfoFax Service (Tel: 2869 9568) or the LegCo website (www.legco.gov.hk). Please note that the agenda is subject to change, and the latest information about the agenda could be found in the LegCo website.
Members of the public are welcome to observe the proceedings of the meeting from the public galleries of the LegCo Chamber. They may reserve seats by calling 2869 9399 during office hours. Seats will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. Members of the public can also listen to the meeting via the web broadcast system on the LegCo website.
Ends/Monday, November 1, 2010
Issued at HKT 18:41
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