The HKSAR continues to abide by a number of human rights treaties and CEDAW is one of them. Upon the reunification, the Government of the PRC wrote to the Secretary-General of the UN to say that the reservations for CEDAW would continue to apply to the HKSAR. The Government of the PRC also extended to the HKSAR its reservation to paragraph 1 of Article 29.

As it was the case before the reunification, the HKSAR Government is fully committed to the protection of human rights, including of course women's rights. We in the HKSAR Government are fully committed to discharging the treaty obligations under CEDAW. We are fully aware that these obligations cannot be taken lightly. Yet we are also obliged to assess whether these obligations can be discharged for the moment, having regard to the need and special circumstances of the HKSAR, the Basic Law and the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance.

Indeed, as the British Nationality Act 1981 is no longer relevant, the reservation to Article 9 has already been removed. The remaining reservations are retained purely on a need basis. They are retained to preserve laws and policies that protect the interests of the community as a whole. These reservations, like laws and policies, have been kept under review to see if they are

• inconsistent with the Basic Law;

• inconsistent with the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance; and

• serving the interests of the community in the HKSAR as a whole.

• addressing the need of women in poverty under Article 13;

• ensuring equal access to education and training of women under Article 10;

• increasing women's access to appropriate, affordable and quality health care, information and related services under Article 12;

• preventing and eliminating violence against women under Article 5;

• promoting women's economic rights and independence under Articles 11 and 13;

• ensuring women's equal access to and full participation in power structures and decision making under Articles 7 and 8;

• creating of strengthened national machineries and other governmental bodies for the advancement of women under Article 3;

• promoting and protecting the human rights of women under Articles 2 and 3; and

• promoting a balanced and non-stereotyped portrayal of women in the media under Article 5.

The Home Affairs Bureau has all along been working for the promotion of the CEDAW. Since the Convention was extended to Hong Kong in 1996, we have distributed more than 16,000 copies of the Convention to the public; we have also published promotional booklets and a variety of souvenirs to enhance the public awareness of the Convention.

Moreover, promoting gender equality is one of the major functions of the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), as stipulated by the Sex Discrimination Ordinance. EOC is tasked to implement anti-discrimination Ordinances such as the Sex Discrimination Ordinance and the Family Status Discrimination Ordinance, which aim to eliminate discrimination on the grounds of sex and family status. Setting up an extra mechanism to promote gender equality and advancement of women would be a duplication of efforts and a waste of resources.

To encourage more members of the public with relevant expertise to serve on advisory and statutory bodies, the HKSARG regularly updates and expands its database of persons who are willing to serve on these bodies. Members of women organisations, professional bodies, academic institutions, among others, are invited to indicate their interest to serve on these bodies by submitting their personal information for inclusion into the database. Such information will be used as reference by the authorities in making appointments.

Moreover, to further provide members of the public who are interested in serving on these bodies with the opportunity to include their personal data into the above database, the relevant proforma has recently been uploaded onto the homepage of Home Affairs Bureau for their easy access.

As a matter of fact, the percentage of women appointed to advisory and statutory bodies has been increasing in recent years. In 1998, about 20% of members serving on these bodies were women, compared with 16.6% in 1995. Besides, the number of women appointed to these bodies has also been increased by about 119% in these ten years.

"A person discriminates against a woman in any circumstances relevant for the purposes of any provision of the Ordinance if on the ground of her sex he treats her less favourably than he treats or would treat a man; or he applies to her a requirement or condition which he applies or would apply equally to a man but (i) the proportion of women who can comply with it is considerably smaller than the proportion of men who can comply with it; (ii) which he cannot show to be justifiable irrespective of the sex of the person to whom it is applied; and (iii) which is to her detriment because she cannot comply with it" (section 5)

The Sex Discrimination Ordinance also prohibits discrimination on the ground of pregnancy and marital status (sections 7-8). As to the scope of application of the Ordinance, it covers the fields of employment, education, provisions of goods, facilities or services, disposal or management of premises, eligibility to vote for and to be elected or appointed to advisory bodies, activities of clubs and activities of Government.

As the term "discrimination against women" in the Convention means "any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedom in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field", the definition of sex discrimination in the Sex Discrimination Ordinance is compatible to that of CEDAW.

The HKSARG is responsible for the implementation of the provisions of CEDAW. This is done through a combination of legislative and administrative measures. The enactment of the SDO, DDO and the FSDO, as well as the establishment of the EOC has assisted the full implementation of CEDAW in the HKSAR.

The 1997/98 annual report of the EOC was tabled at sitting of the Legislative Council on 9 December 1998 for legislators' consideration. As far as we can ascertain from the Legislative Council Secretariat, no further action has been proposed by the legislators.

The EOC is an independent statutory body and maintains close liaison with NGOs. For example, staff of the EOC visit NGOs to get to know their concerns and views.

In addition, if the court is satisfied that the other party has caused actual bodily harm to the applicant or to the child concerned, at the same time as the court grants the injunction or at any time during the period for which the injunction is granted, attach to the injunction a power of arrest which authorises a police officer to arrest any person who breaches the terms of the injunction (section 5). Those victims of domestic violence who feel that their safety are at risk may seek court injunctions against their spouses under the Domestic Violence Ordinance or under the inherent jurisdiction of the Court. Legal aid is available to eligible and meritorious applicants to take proceedings for divorce, child custody, or ancillary relief.

Victims of domestic violence can have access to a wide range of social welfare services. The 65 Family Services Centres (FSCs) operated by the Social Welfare Department and non-governmental organizations, which are conveniently located, provide family counselling and casework assistance, and refer the battered spouse to receive other welfare assistance, such as temporary refuge, housing assistance and so on, where necessary. The battered women could receive assistance from the FSC nearest to their residence, join the supportive groups organised by Social Welfare Department's Group Work Units and subvented Children and Youth Centres. In fact, some battered women have been assisted to form mutual help groups under the auspices of subvented agencies.

Besides, they are also provided with service from the clinical psychologists. In addition, supportive services including family aide service, home help, child care services, are available to help alleviate stress and other problems arising from domestic violence. Individuals or families in need of financial assistance can apply for Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) administered by the Social Welfare Department. In addition, they can also apply for charitable trust funds which aim at providing direct and temporary grants for the needy individuals or families in special and emergency situations.

• the 79 family life education workers provide services which aim at improving the quality of family life and the prevention of family breakdown;·

• 19 family activity and resource centres are set up in all districts throughout Hong Kong to provide a focal point for local families to drop in for advice, to develop mutual aid as well as social networking opportunities;·

• both the Social Welfare Department and NGOs, such as Caritas and Harmony House, operate hotline services to provide information and enquiry services to needy couples or individuals in cases where the family relationship is at crisis situation; and·

• as mentioned in paragraph 35(j) of the Initial Report, an interdisciplinary Working Group on Battered Spouses was formed to tackle the problem of battered spouses. In 1998, it has launched a publicity campaign to educate the public on the destructive forces of family violence and encourage families at risk to seek early professional advice. Announcements of Public Interest have been broadcast on TV and Radio. Two TV episodes were broadcast in August and September. A full-colored information pack on services for battered spouses has been distributed in November.

Domestic violence is classified by the Police as violent crime and the Police take a serious view of them. The topic of domestic violence has been included in the syllabus of the police inspector training course since July 1997 and Recruit Police Constable training course since June 1997. New instructors' notes were published. Officers from the Harmony House have been giving lectures to raise awareness of frontline police officers on sub-unit training since August 1997.

Measures were adopted to combat sex violence. The Crimes (Amendment) Ordinance was passed by the Legislative Council in April 1997 and was brought into operation in May 1998 to increase the penalty level of various types of sexual offences, e.g. the maximum penalty for indecent conduct towards child under 16 was increased from 5 to 10 years (the proposed increase in maximum penalties for sexual and related offences is enclosed at Annex A).

Legislation will be introduced in this legislative session to empower law enforcement agencies to take intimate (e.g. semen) and non-intimate samples (e.g. hair) to combat serious crimes including sexual offences.

Apart from bringing the offenders to justice, the Police has also been emphasising a sympathetic approach in investigating sexual offence cases.

The Equal Opportunities Commission has also been using a variety of publicity and public education measures to address the issue on sexual harassment e.g. a Training Module on Preventing and Dealing with Sexual Harassment, a copy of which has already been sent to the Committee, was issued to assist individuals and organisations to prevent and handle cases of sexual harassment.

Victims of sexual and related offences are provided with outreaching and casework services by caseworkers of the Family Services Centres of the Social Welfare Department and NGOs. Counselling service is provided to help the victims cope with the emotional trauma. Other supportive services include referral to women's refuge, financial assistance, child care arrangement, housing assistance such as compassionate rehousing, family aide service, etc. can also be arranged by caseworkers in Family Services Centres or medical social service units of Social Welfare Department on a need basis.

• Inland Revenue Ordinance: before the enactment of the amendment in 1989, a married woman would be jointly assessed with her spouse for taxation, usually leading to a higher total taxable income and a higher tax payment for the couple than would have been the case if they were assessed separately because of the progressive nature of tax rates. After the enactment of the amendment, a married woman can opt to be assessed separately from her spouse, and the fact that she is married will have no bearing on her tax payment.·

• Marriage Ordinance: after the amendment enacted in 1997, a mother enjoys the same parental right as a father to give consent to her child between the age of 16 and 21 to get married.·

• Matrimonial Causes Ordinance: in respect of a matrimonial proceeding, the court has to be satisfied that it has the jurisdiction to take on the petition. In the past, there were special grounds that applied only to a woman but not a man. The amendments rectified this anomaly. In respect of a petition for divorce citing adultery, the treatment of an alleged adulterer and an adulteress used to be different in that the adulteress could only be made a co-respondent at the discretion of the court. Now an adulterer/adulteress will be made a co-respondent unless excused by the court. In respect of the definition of dependent children, it used to mean an unmarried son who had not reached 18 and an unmarried daughter of any age. The amendment removed the difference between a son and a daughter and defined dependent children as anybody who had not reached 18.·

• Separation and Maintenance Orders Ordinance: in the past, only a wife could ask for an order for maintenance. Now both a wife and a husband can do so.·

• Bankruptcy Ordinance: there used to be references to the "wives and concubines" of a male debtor. They were considered sexually biased and were now replaced by "spouse".·

• Companies (Winding Up) Rules: the reference in a form for ordering payment to "amounts payable by married women and legal representative" was considered sexually biased and the words "married women" was removed.·

• Merchant Shipping Ordinance: a provision requiring the return of the property of a deceased seaman to the "widow" of the deceased was considered sexually biased and repealed; another section that made reference to "boys under 16 years of age" working in the sea-fishing service implying that girls were excluded was also repealed.

Some of the key findings are as follows:

• women and the better educated respondents are more sensitive to sex discrimination in the media and the workplace, more flexible with traditional home-based roles and more supportive of female political and community leaders;

• those who are employed perceive less sex discrimination at work than those who are not employed;

• those who are unmarried are more sensitive to sex discrimination at work than those who are married;

• both men and women consider dismissal due to pregnancy, sexual harassment of women at work and gender-based differential benefits as the most prominent forms of sex discrimination;

• men are more sensitive about gender stereotyping than women;

• respondents are more aware of male than female stereotyping;

• there is a general perception that discrimination in the media is greater against women than men;

• about half of the respondents are dissatisfied with the way gender equality is reported in the media;

• a majority cite the gap in pay as the most common form of gender-based discrimination in the workplace.

• a free talk service, including talks given on Saturdays, was launched to disseminate information on equal opportunities legislation; in 1998, a total of 251 talks were given, reaching out to a population of 76 000;

• two training modules on "Preventing and Dealing with Sexual Harassment" and "Equal Opportunities for Women and Men at the Workplace" were launched;

• a Community Participation Funding Programme on Equal Opportunities was launched to support community activities on the promotion of gender equality;

• a set of leaflets to promote good management practices for equal opportunities in employment was published;

• regular meetings are held with the media to get across the message of equal opportunities.

The concept of human rights, including equal opportunities, is continuously featured in civic education to the community. The Committee on the Promotion of Civic Education (CPCE) considers human rights as an integral part of civic education.

The concept of equal opportunities for men and women in civil, political and social rights has been incorporated in both the formal and informal curricula at both the primary and secondary levels. Schools are encouraged to offer all subjects in the curriculum to both female and male students.

Besides, equality between the sexes and respect for each other's needs are among the core elements of school syllabuses such as General Studies, Civic Education, Social Studies, Religious Studies and Liberal Studies. In addition, the "Guidelines on Sex Education and Guidelines on Civic Education in schools" issued by the Education Department also encourages a number of topics relating to sex equality which can be included for discussion in activities such as class-teacher periods, guidance and counselling sessions as well as extra-curricular activities.

The Education Department has produced curriculum materials to help schools promote the concept of sex equality. In preparing curriculum materials and in reviewing textbooks, attention is paid to upholding the concept of the equality of sexes, avoidance of sex-biased aspirations and sexual stereotyping.

Similarly, it is neither unlawful nor a criminal offence to employ or engage a prostitute simpliciter. It may be that the "client" commits some other offence in the course of this engagement, for example, rape, intercourse with underaged persons, indecent exposure in public etc. But that is not really connected with him engaging the prostitute.

In respect of "brothel keeping", the relevant offences are:

• Section 139 of the Crimes Ordinance provides for the offence against anyone keeping, managing, assisting in the management, or is otherwise in charge or control of a vice establishment. This offence is subject to a maximum punishment on summary conviction of three years or 10 years on indictment. That provision is frequently invoked.

• Sections 140 to 145A target the owner tenant occupier who has an element of control over the premises which are used for prostitution or which are kept as a vice establishment. Frequently invoked are Sections 143 and 144, each of which carries a maximum penalty on indictment of seven years.

• In connection with premises found repeatedly by the Court to be the subject of convictions for vice-related offences, the Court would make a closure order under section 153B closing the subject premises for six months, subject to an application by an interested party. The full conditions are set out in sections 153A to 153O.

• Section 147A prohibits the display of signs advertising prostitution and has a maximum penalty of 12 months.

  In respect of "pimping", the relevant offences are:

• Section 130 provides for the offence of harbouring control or direction over another person with the intention that the person shall do unlawful sexual acts or with a view to that person's prostitution. The maximum penalty on indictment is 14 years' imprisonment.

• Section 131 sets out the offence of procuring another person to become a prostitute. The maximum penalty on indictment is 10 years' imprisonment.

• Section 129 deals with trafficking of persons to or from Hong Kong for the purpose of prostitution and that sets up a maximum penalty of 10 years.

• Sections 132, 133 and 135 deal with procurement or encouragement of the prostitution of underaged or defective persons. They provide for a maximum penalty of 5, 10 and 10 years of imprisonment respectively.

• Section 137 concerns the offence of knowingly living off the earnings of prostitution, which is often invoked. The maximum penalty is 10 years' imprisonment.

The Offences Against the Person Ordinance prohibits the selling and kidnapping of any person, including a women or female child; the maximum penalty is life imprisonment. The Ordinance also prohibits the unlawful taking away of any child under the age of 14 years with intent to deprive the child's parent or guardian of the possession of the child; the offender is liable to imprisonment for seven years.

The Immigration Department is responsible for the duties of registration of births, deaths and marriages from July 1979. The Registrar of Marriages, who is also the Director of Immigration, is vested with the duties to register marriage and provide other related services under the Marriage Ordinance. Every marriage under the Ordinance in the HKSAR shall be a monogamous marriage of a man and a women to the exclusion of others. There are some legal preliminaries to satisfy before a party to an intended marriage can file a notice of marriage:

• parties should not be under the age of 16. If they are under 21, written consent is required from the relevant person specified in the Third Schedule to the Marriage Ordinance. In a case where the consent required is unavailable, the parties shall apply to the court for such consent;

• persons who are within the prohibited degree of relationship may not marry;

• mentally disorder persons or persons of unsound mind are not eligible to contract any marriage; and

• parties whose lawful wife/husband is still living may not marry.

Any person in the HKSAR is free to marry another person as long as both parties are able to meet the requirement as mentioned above. Whether or not they are local men or women or how they were introduced to each other will not affect their right to marry. However, if it is found that a foreigner has entered into a sham marriage for the purpose of acquiring residence in Hong Kong, the Immigration Department may consider curtailment of stay under Section 11(6) of the Immigration Ordinance.

For rural elections, the Government has been actively promoting the equality of opportunity between men and women. The Government's position on equal voting rights for men and women has been made clear to the Heung Yee Kuk, the Government's statutory advisor on New Territories matters. The Heung Yee Kuk, in full support of this position, implement model rules, which provide for, among other things, one-person-one-vote and equal voting rights for men and women in respect of Village Representative (VR) elections, To date, more than 95% of the villages have their VRs elected under the model rules. The current round of VR elections, expected to be completed by March 1999, will be held under these rules. In accordance with the Sex Discrimination Ordinance, the Government will not recognise the status of VRs who are not returned by a procedure in which women have not been able to participate on equal terms with men, whether as candidates, nominees, electors or in some other relevant capacity. Consequently, they will not be eligible to take part in Rural Committee and Heung Yee Kuk elections.

The number of female participating in public life has been increasing, as shown in the following table:

There is no strong evidence to indicate that women over 30 years of age are in fact being discriminated against. What may be giving this impression is an economic restructuring and contraction of the local manufacturing sector in which these women were previously employed. Many of such ex-workers lack the education, qualifications and skills to seek other employment. To address this problem, the Employees Retraining Scheme (ERS) has been providing full and part-time retraining courses, with an emphasis on employees over the age of 30 years with no more than junior secondary education. Since its inception in 1992, the ERS has offered training to more than 273,000 people, of whom 81% have been women and 60% have been women aged between 30-50 years. Following retraining, the average placement rate during 1997/98 has been around 75% for women (and 78% for men).

In September to November 1998, the labour force comprised 3.39 million persons, of whom 2.06 million were men and 1.34 million were women, giving participation rates of 75.6% and 48.7% respectively. Of these, 3.20 million were employed (1.94 million men and 1.26 million women). Women enjoyed a lower unemployment rate (4.7%) and underemployment rate (1.6%), compared with those of men (6.3% and 3.8% respectively).

Information on whether an employee is working "part-time" or "full-time" is not regularly collected. However, statistics showing the number of employees by hours of work during the seven days before the enumeration for September to November 1998 is available:

The Code of Practice on Employment under the Sex Discrimination Ordinance published by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) states that employers are encouraged to progressively implement equal pay for equal value.

We support proposals that will enable the realization of equality. However, since the principle of equal pay for work of equal value is a completely new concept to Hong Kong, we need to proceed with caution and to provide more specific guidance to facilitate compliance. The EOC therefore commissioned an inter-university research team to examine its feasibility. The result has not been finalized yet.

Section 11 of the Sex Discrimination Ordinance provides that it is unlawful

for an employer to discriminate against a woman in the terms of employment he offers her. Therefore, when an employer offers a job or a post to a person, the terms of the employment should be the same irrespective of that person's sex. An aggrieved employee may apply to court for damages in respect of an unlawful act (section 76).

In addition, it is unlawful for a person, alone, or together with other persons, to engage in conduct of a sexual nature which creates a sexually hostile or intimidating work environment for her.

Other forms of violence, which among other things, deals with homicide, assaults, forcible taking or detention of persons, unlawful abortions, are outlawed by the Offences Against the Person Ordinance.

Normal operating hours of the nurseries is from 8:00 .a.m. to 6:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday and 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Some nurseries provide extended hour service, with service hours running from either 7:30 a.m./8:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m./7:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday and from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. At present 5 centres are offering a total of 70 extended hour service places.

Number of subvented residential creche and residential nursery places as at 30.11.98 was 200 and 132 respectively. Service is provided round the clock i.e. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The service is fully subvented by the Government and is provided free of charge to users.

The Government has secured resources to provide an additional 3,197 aided day nursery places by 1999/00.

Article 11(2) is silent on whether maternity protection can be invoked and maternity benefits commence immediately. A reservation has been made because the Employment Ordinance provides for qualifying periods before a pregnant employee gains employment protection, entitlement to maternity leave and maternity leave with pay. We consider that, despite this reservation, maternity protection and benefits in the HKSAR are adequate and strike an equitable balance between employer's and employee's interests. These protection and benefits are already more generous than those in many other countries (despite the latter being financed by either the state or through contributory schemes and not by employers as is the case in the HKSAR).

Q64. Describe the employment conditions of women migrant workers, in particular household maids in Hong Kong. Do they enjoy the same treatment benefits as Hong Kong workers?

Migrant workers and foreign domestic helpers enjoy a minimum wage stipulated in their standard employment contracts, which also contain provisions for food, accommodation and free medical treatment. By contrast, local workers do not enjoy these provisions as a statutory right, although some employers may provide them as an fringe benefit. There is also no statutory minimum wage for local workers.

Family planning advice and services, including counselling and follow up services are available in all 50 Maternal and Child Health Centres located over the territory under the Department of Health. This service is charged at a nominal fee of $1 (US$0.13).

Prior to the enactment of the New Territories Land (Exemption) Ordinance, should an owner of land or property in the New Territories die intestate, succession to the land or property would be dealt with in accordance with Chinese custom, that is male-line succession only. After the New Territories Land (Exemption) Ordinance had taken effect, this Chinese customary succession law no longer applies to such land or property. Women will be entitled to inherit New Territories land according to the rules of intestacy, thereby having the same rights as men to inherit land or property in the New Territories in the absence of a will.

This reservation entered provides for the continuation of the present HKSAR legislation which enable male indigenous villagers to exercise certain rights in respect of property and which provide for rent concessions in respect of land or property held by indigenous persons or their lawful successors through the male line. Rent concessions are provided for in Annex III of the Sino-British Joint Declaration and Article 122 of the Basic Law.

The HKSAR Government set up a committee in September 1997 to review the Small House Policy. We aim to complete the review in 1999.

If a relation between cohabitants dissolves, any dispute regarding properties may be settled in court in accordance with common law rules. In addition, the inheritance and succession right of "de facto" spouse under a will is the same as husband and wife.

According to the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance, the name of the father of an illegitimate child is not required to be included in the registration of birth. Nevertheless, the father may be named at the request of both parents or the mother together with the necessary court declaration. A father can apply to court for a declaration regarding his parentage status in accordance with the Parent and Child Ordinance (section 6). If there is any dispute regarding parental rights, custody or maintenance, such disputes may be settled in Court in accordance with the Guardianship of Minors Ordinance.

In addition, the Domestic Violence Ordinance applies to the cohabitation of a man and a woman, therefore, a woman who chooses to cohabit is still entitled to the same protection as a married woman under the Ordinance.