Human rights reputation at stake.

(From South China Morning Post)

Byline: Liana Cafolla

Hong Kong must be vigilant over its international human rights reputation in the wake of an appeal court ruling overturning the decision to deport the Sri Lankan refugee, a human rights lawyer has warned.

Last Wednesday's landmark decision, which quashed the order against the man, brought Hong Kong's obligations under international human rights conventions into focus, said lawyer Mark Daly.

During the appeal, Mr Daly, who represented the man during his 18-month fight to have his deportation order rescinded, showed that Hong Kong had not lived up to its obligations under the 1984 United Nations Convention against Torture, to which Hong Kong acceded in 1988 under British rule.

Mr Daly believes it is the first time the torture convention has been invoked in Hong Kong.

Article 3 prohibits signatories from sending a person back to countries where they are at risk of being tortured, and obliges host governments to investigate claims of torture. Mr Justice Anthony Rogers found that the government had not lived up to its obligations to investigate. Instead, the director of immigration and the secretary for security had relied on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to determine his refugee status. The decision to deport was ...