1. The Human Rights Committee called for an independent statutory body to investigate and monitor violations of human rights. It called on Hong Kong to strengthen the mandate and independence of the existing bodies and reiterated its concern about the lack of an independent human rights institution with competence to consider and act on individual complaints on hum rights violations (para. 8 of the concluding observations) 2. Investigations of police misconduct are carried out by the Complaints Against Police Office (CAPO) while the Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC) only has advisory and oversight functions. The Human Rights Committee recommended the establishment of a fully independent mechanism to conduct independent, proper and effective investigations into complaints about abuse of power or inappropriate use of force by the police. The outline of its submission to the Human Rights Committee government’s Besides from commenting on the above, the government has further noted in its outline that it will report on: Article 6: Right to life: The number of deaths in custody of the disciplinary forces. Article 7: No torture or inhuman treatment: Instances of alleged use of torture or other forms of ill-treatment. Article 10: Rights of persons deprived of their liberty: The rights of persons in custody Regulation and management of penal establishments SoCO is disappointed that the government in its public consultation has merely highlighted the issues to be included rather than writing in more detail about the content of its submission to Human Rights Committee. Had it for instance summed up its measures and policy on how it ensures that the rights of people in custody are protected, the public would be in a much better position to comment on the adequacy of the consultation document. There is a strong need to thoroughly review whether the rights of people in custody are properly protected. SoCO would therefore like to draw the attention to the following issues: major concerns SoCO’s a. Prison complaints system:
1. The Human Rights Committee called for an independent statutory body to investigate and monitor violations of human rights. It called on Hong Kong to strengthen the mandate and independence of the existing bodies and reiterated its concern about the lack of an independent human rights institution with competence to consider and act on individual complaints on hum rights violations (para. 8 of the concluding observations) 2. Investigations of police misconduct are carried out by the Complaints Against Police Office (CAPO) while the Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC) only has advisory and oversight functions. The Human Rights Committee recommended the establishment of a fully independent mechanism to conduct independent, proper and effective investigations into complaints about abuse of power or inappropriate use of force by the police. The government’s outline of its submission to the Human Rights Committee Besides from commenting on the above, the government has further noted in its outline that it will report on: Article 6: Right to life: The number of deaths in custody of the disciplinary forces. Article 7: No torture or inhuman treatment: Instances of alleged use of torture or other forms of ill-treatment. Article 10: Rights of persons deprived of their liberty: The rights of persons in custody Regulation and management of penal establishments SoCO is disappointed that the government in its public consultation has merely highlighted the issues to be included rather than writing in more detail about the content of its submission to Human Rights Committee. Had it for instance summed up its measures and policy on how it ensures that the rights of people in custody are protected, the public would be in a much better position to comment on the adequacy of the consultation document. There is a strong need to thoroughly review whether the rights of people in custody are properly protected. SoCO would therefore like to draw the attention to the following issues: SoCO’s major concerns a. Prison complaints system:
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