MR CHAN KIN-POR (in Cantonese): Deputy President, in addition to providing for the four types of criminal acts endangering national security, are there any requirements protecting human rights and freedom in the National Security Law?
SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE (in Cantonese): I thank the Member for his supplementary question. Article 4 of the National Security Law clearly states that “human rights shall be respected and protected in safeguarding national security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The rights and freedoms, including the freedoms of speech, of the press, of publication, of association, of assembly, of procession and of demonstration, which the residents of the Region enjoy under the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as applied to Hong Kong, shall be protected in accordance with the law.” So, in response to the supplementary question of the Member, the National Security Law has explicitly provided that human rights shall be respected and protected.