Replies to LegCo questions

LCQ7: Report on elimination of discrimination against women

Following is a question by the Hon Cyd Ho and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, in the Legislative Council today (February 11):

Question:

In its Policy Agenda booklet last year, the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau stated that the Government would prepare and submit the second report of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (HKSAR Report). However, in the paper on the Bureau's policy initiatives presented to the Legislative Council Panel on Health Services in January this year, the Bureau has made no mention of the progress of the issue. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the progress in preparing the HKSAR Report; if the authorities have completed the drafting work, whether the report has been submitted to the Central Government to form a part of the report to be submitted by China; whether the authorities know if the Central Government has already submitted China's report (including the HKSAR Report) to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women for examination;

(b) if the authorities have not yet completed the drafting work, the respective timings for completing the drafting of the HKSAR Report and submitting it to the Central Government and when the Central Government will submit China's report to the Committee for examination;

(c) whether the authorities have consulted the Women's Commission on the initial draft of the HKSAR Report before finalising it; if so, of the details of the relevant comments received; if not, the reasons for that; and

(d) when the authorities will publish the HKSAR Report in full for the public's information?

Reply:

(a) The Second Report on the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (the Report) has recently been submitted to the United Nations (UN) as part of the combined 5th and 6th periodic reports of the People's Republic of China under the Convention.

(b) As the Report has already been submitted to the UN, part (b) of the question is not applicable.

(c) The Women's Commission was consulted on both the draft outline and content of the Report. Commission members suggested to give an overall picture of the status of women in Hong Kong and a holistic view of administrative and legislative measures taken to address women's concerns and to include the work of the Equal Opportunities Commission and that of the Women's Commission. The commission also suggested that services provided by non-Government organisations should be included and given credit where they were due. Detailed comments were also made on the draft content of the Report article by article. Their various suggestions and comments were incorporated in the final Report. Commission members were generally content with the draft and were satisfied that major developments relating to the well-being of women in Hong Kong had been documented in the Report.

(d) We have arranged for the uploading of the Report to the websites of the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau and the Women's Commission for public information. We are informing the Legislative Council, Women's Commission, women's groups and non-governmental organisations of this arrangement. As and when the printed version and the CD-ROM version are available, they will be distributed to the Legislative Council and other interested parties.

Ends/Wednesday, February 11, 2004
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