GENEVA Thu Oct 23, 2014 8:40am EDT
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Pro-democracy protesters carrying portraits of Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying march to his residence in Hong Kong October 22, 2014.
CREDIT: REUTERS/BOBBY YIP
(Reuters) – The United Nations Human Rights Committee called on China on Thursday to ensure universal suffrage in Hong Kong, stressing that included the right to stand for election as well as the right to vote.
The panel of 18 independent experts, who monitor compliance with an international treaty on civil and political rights ratified by Hong Kong, agreed the move after voicing concern at Beijing’s plan to vet candidates in the former British colony.
The committee agreed on “the need to ensure universal suffrage, which means both the right to be elected as well as the right to vote. The main concerns of Committee members were focused on the right to stand for elections without unreasonable restrictions,” Konstantine Vardzelashvili, who chaired the session, said at its conclusion.
Thousands have taken to the streets of Hong Kong in protest against central government plans to allow only Beijing loyalists to stand in 2017 elections in which Hong Kong people will vote for their own leader. Talks between student leaders and senior officials on Tuesday failed to break a deadlock.
Christine Chanet, a French judge and panel member, told Reuters: “The committee doesn’t want candidates filtered. The problem is that Beijing wants to vet candidates … We have now put some pressure, but not too heavily, as we absolutely need China’s cooperation.”
Emily Lau, a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong and chair of the Democratic Party of Hong Kong who attended the Geneva session, welcomed the U.N. watchdog’s stance.
