'New Rules Will Deny Justice To Torture Claimants'

The founder of the Hong Kong Society for Asylum Seekers and Refugees, Isabella Ng, on Thursday warned that the government's move to change rules regarding the treatment of torture claimants will be a denial of justice to victims, done in the name of bureaucratic convenience.

Her comment comes after Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma on Monday expressed his support for some changes to the procedures, saying an increasing number of such cases are putting pressure on the work of local courts.

The government says the amendments are aimed at plugging procedural loopholes and increase the overall screening efficiency of torture claims, or non-refoulement claims.

Ng said the reduction in time given to launch appeals to seven days, from the current 14 days, may leave many people with very little time to find help and prepare their documents.

She said the 14-day period starts from the date of issue of the letter by the appeal board and usually it takes a few days before the applicant receives the letter, in effect, leaving them with eight to nine days.

If the response time is cut to seven days, it may give them virtually no time to respond, said Ng.

Ng told RTHK's Janice Wong that allowing the Immigration Department to immediately remove any claimants whose judicial review applications are rejected will also be troublesome.