Freedom of assembly and sexual minorities’ rights discussed in first Macau SAR session with UN Human Rights Committee – Macau Business

A Macau SAR government delegation today (Wednesday) addressed human rights concerns in the first of three sessions with the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee, regarding the SAR freedom of assembly and sexual minorities rights.

During the ongoing evaluation sessions from July 13 to July 15, the Macau SAR is required to undergo reviews by the Committee of 18 independent international experts on how they are implementing the Covenant as well as the Committees previous recommendations, and discuss Macaus human rights situation with UN officials.

The Human Rights Committee also reports and other submissions from Macau non-governmental organizations addressing several matters in the SAR, with some joining briefings with the Committee.

In the first session held online UN representatives expressed their concerns over the rights to freedom of assembly in the SAR, especially addressing the Macau governments obstruction of the previous remembrance events for the Tiananmen protests and gatherings in support of the Hong Kong democratic movement.

The session was chaired by Photini Pazartzis, Professor of International Law and Director of the Athens Public International Law Centerand member of the UN Human Rights Committee.

Secretary for Administration and Justice Andr Cheong Weng Chon lead a delegation of 17 Macau officials.

Replying to the questions raised by the committee, Adviser of the Office of the Secretary for Security, Zhang Guo Hua, indicated that according to Article 21 of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the rights of freedom of assembly can be restricted based on specific reasons, and the Macau authorities decision of suspending the memorial events for the Tiananmen Incident was made in accordance with the law.

In 2021, the Public Security Police Force (CPSP) refuse the request submitted by the Macau Democratic Development Association to hold the June 4th Tiananmen Incident candlelight assembly, in the name of pandemic prevention.

The association later appealed to the court against the decision made by the police, but the appeal was rejected by TheCourt of Final Appeal for the reason that the event violated the relevant provisions in the Penal Code of Macau and the principle of good faith stipulated in the Code of Administrative Procedure.

The Macau delegation representative stressed in todays session that the judgment made by the court confirmed the illegality of the memorial events for the Tiananmen Incident, and pointed out that there are legitimate reasons to cancel the event if its purpose has violated the Penal Code of Macau.

Also, the adviser emphasized that when the exercises of freedom of speech and assembly have led to the open promotion of provocative, offensive, slanderous, insulting, and ridiculing remarks, the actions of organizing such assemblies are of course unacceptable.

Therefore, the decision of the authorities is made in accordance with the law and is also a final solution, Zhang added.

Meanwhile, the adviser noted that the protests supporting the Hong Kong democratic movement were also banned because the purpose of the event violated the law.

The protests referred aimed to oppose the excessive use of force by the Hong Kong Police but were later prohibited by the SAR government and courts, with some people gathering at the supposed time of the protest at Senate Square detained for questioning and later released.

Zhang declared that the theme of the event was to publicly accuse and condemn the actions conducted by the Hong Kong police authorities, and if the Macau government allows such demonstrations against the Hong Kong police to be held, it will indicate that the government agrees to create a platform to interfere the internal affairs of the neighbouring SAR.

This will violate the basic principles of the SARs constitutional system, the Macau delegation representative said.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Macau Delegation, Secretary for Administration and Justice, Andre Cheong Weng Chon made remarks addressing the concerns over the rights of the sexual minorities and stated that such issues are difficult to handle in Asian societies which are deeply influenced by traditional culture and values.

The secretary stressed that it is challenging to revise laws to obtain more legal protection for sexual minorities before a social consensus is formed since such revisions are difficult to be passed by the Legislative Assembly.

Some UN officials at the end of the evaluation session questioned that the Macau government did not give any substantial response to the sexual minorities issues, including gender markers on transgender citizens identity documents, same-sex marriage and domestic violence laws, and asked the Macau government to provide more concrete measures to promote social awareness and acceptance on the minorities people.

Director of the Legal Affairs Bureau, Liu Dexue responded that the SAR government has set up a special working group a few years ago to conduct a comprehensive and systematic study on these issues.

The representative reiterated that Macau as an Asian society is influenced by oriental traditional culture on the issue of marriage, gender and family, and the authorities also hope to find a solution that can balance the interests of different groups which is in line with social consensus.

We need to focus on the rights of the minorities, but also the majority, Liu said.

Also, the legal affairs bureau director indicated that although Macaus domestic violence law does not specifically include same-sex couples, protection of such rights are involved in other general laws and can be handled in accordance with relevant provisions.

The Macau government initially proposed the inclusion of same-sex co-habitants in the scope of the domestic violence law in 2011, however, the authorities decided to drop the reference to same-sex partners in 2012.

To this date, the government still declines to rectify the exclusion of same-sex partners, in defiance of the recommendation made by the UNs Committee against Torture (CAT).

After the remaining two sessions on July 14 and 15, the UNHuman Rights Committee will then hold a press conference on July 27 to present its conclusions.

Although the Peoples Republic of China has not ratified the ICCPR the international agreements governing the handover of Hong Kong and Macau to China ensured the ICCPR would still apply in both areas, after having its jurisdiction previously extended to both regions by the United Kingdom and Portugal respectively.

The Human Rights Committee is one of theten so-called UN Treaty Bodies the guardians of the nine main international human rights treaties , and is considered alongside other Treaty Bodies as aquasi-judicial body, as it emanates from a legally-binding treaty.

It reviewsthe implementation of the ICCPR by countries on a regular basis, usually every four to eight years, through a dedicatedreview processthat takes into account civil society shadow reports.

Hong Kong and MacausLists of Issues the first stage of review were adopted by the Committee in August 2020 and both regions are now set for formal review during the Committees upcoming session untilJuly 27, 2022.

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Freedom of assembly and sexual minorities' rights discussed in first Macau SAR session with UN Human Rights Committee - Macau Business