Rights are non-derogable if they cannot be suspended even in a state of emergency. Main ones are rights against cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, against torture and persecution, and to life. I have been a panelist of a public-funded legal assistance scheme in Hong Kong on Convention Against Torture and Non-refoulement claims.
The international, regional as well as the municipal human rights standards and norms have been evolving since World War II. When I first studied the regimes in the 1980s, the regional jurisprudence helped elaborate the niceties of the general legal framework. The human rights law that I am practising now reflects Hong Kong's high standard of fairness.
Institutionally, various legal heads of claims have been consolidated into the Immigration Department's Unified Screening Mechanism procedures to achieve more with less. Claimants can be represented, free of charge, by lawyers including me. Apart from advising on rights and procedures, I accompany claimants to attend screening interviews.
The demise of a Saudi Arabian journalist demonstrates the importance of human rights. The nature of the act and harm inflicted on the victim, and the intent of responsible public agents, if proven, amount to persecution, cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment, torture and deprivation of the right to life. My vision is to advance moral conscience!