Rights Groups: Beijing Playing Down HK's Problems

Local civil groups have accused Beijing of playing down human-rights problems in Hong Kong at a United Nations meeting.

They said it was unprecedented that 14 countries raised concern about the SAR's situation at the UN’s Universal Periodic Review in Geneva last Friday.

Law Yuk-kai, director of Human Rights Monitor, said those nations urged Beijing to protect Hong Kong's rule of law, as well as freedom of expression and assembly. He insists the human-rights situation here has worsened.

"To our surprise, China and the Hong Kong authorities have accepted quite a lot of the recommendations," Law said. "But they said they had already implemented that.

"If you look at the Hong Kong situation, of course we see serious problems. That's why the UN committee spent quite a lot of time on Hong Kong."

He said there were clear signs that the international community was becoming unsettled by what it saw in Hong Kong in terms of "one country, two systems" and the rule of law.

On Friday, the Hong Kong government said it would accept five of the six recommendations put to it in the UN review. It rejected a call from Indonesia to endorse an international convention on migrant workers' rights.