Correlating Concepts

In Hong Kong, I feel I am protected from violence. I can enjoy Government's provision of public goods (such as roads and bridges) and public services (such as water and drainage); and there are also some social welfare for those in need. Government protects and provides, and I have never had any worry that I might be persecuted for one reason or another.

To expand the good value, I took an interest on international protection of human rights and pursued a programme at the International Institute of Human Rights at Strasbourg, in July 1987. There, I met up with a refugee who was formerly a lawyer in Czechoslovakia. He fled with his wife to the Netherlands, manifesting the objective of Art.14(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, which recognized that:"Everyone has the the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution."

If an asylum seeker has been recognized having the legal status of a refugee, the legal principle of non-refoulement obliges a Contracting Party to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees 1951 not to expel or return a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or of his opinion. The modern approach in determining the status of the "refugee" takes into account other human rights standards eg the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights 1966 (Art.7) and the Convention Against Torture 1984 (Art.3) concerning the threat of death, or the threat of torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The Hong Kong Government launched the Unified Screening Mechanism on March 3, 2014, with the objective of meeting the high standards of fairness required by law, and at the same time, preventing abuse by economic migrants who aim to lengthen their unlawful stay in Hong Kong. An asylum seeker's inability to secure the protection of his or her country of origin could, in my view, evidence the risk of persecution. Lack of protection and persecution are correlating concepts!

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