This photo dated April 21, 2021 shows the Central Government Offices at Tamar, Hong Kong. (PHOTO / HKSAR GOVERNMENT)
HONG KONG – A delegation of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government will attend the meetings of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday.
As part of the Chinese delegation, the HKSAR government officials will introduce to the Committee the part of China's ninth report under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) that is related to the HKSAR, and answer the Committee's questions on the implementation of the CEDAW in the SAR, the government said on Tuesday.
Permanent Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs Shirley Lam will lead the delegation, which will have members from the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau, the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau, the Security Bureau, the Department of Justice, the Labour Department and the Social Welfare Department.
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"This is the fourth time the Committee has examined a report submitted by the HKSAR under the CEDAW since 1999. The previous round of hearing was held in October 2014," the government said in a statement.
As always, we will resolutely and clearly explain to the international community the progress made in women's development in Hong Kong, and strive to do our best in publicity work.
Spokesman, HKSAR Govt
Since the last hearing, the room for development for women in Hong Kong has been continuously expanding, the government said.
Pointing out major steps the HKSAR has taken to as a means for women empowerment and development, the spokesman said: “While the objective of the CEDAW is to safeguard women's right, remove barriers and gender stereotypes against women and ensure the full development of women, we noticed that some non-governmental organizations (NGOs), many of which are not based in Hong Kong, have made submissions to the Committee that are highly politically charged.”
Many of the statements in such submissions are based on false information and distorted narratives regardless of the truth, with flawed comments on the human rights situation in Hong Kong, the spokesman said, adding that the SAR delegation will make cogent clarification and stern rebuttals to any vilification at the hearing.
A SAR government spokesman strongly refuted “untruthful biased commentary” regarding the implementation of the Hong Kong National Security Law (NSL) and the handling of the 2019 riot presented at an informal meeting between the Committee and NGOs in Geneva on Monday, according to the statement.
The spokesman reiterated that chaos stopped and stability has been restored in Hong Kong following the implementation of the NSL.
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The spokesman also strongly condemned the vilification and smearing in respect of the so-called "gender-based violence" alleged to be committed by the police during the serious violence in 2019.
“When someone breaks the law, police officers are duty-bound to arrest them and bring them to justice. The two-tier police complaint handling mechanism is operating effectively to ensure that every complaint against the police is handled in a fair and impartial manner,” reads said the government statement.