Hong Kong government Tuesday pledged to protect human rights during a two-day hearing at the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

"The government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is fully committed to the protection of human rights," Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs Carrie Lam assured the Committee at the hearing.

Carrie Lam is in New York to attend the committee's hearing of Hong Kong's second report in light of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

The HKSAR government submitted its second report on the implementation of the ICCPR in January 2005 and the members of the committee discussed issues concerning the report during the hearing.

Lam told the committee that in Hong Kong, human rights and freedoms were guaranteed constitutionally by the Basic Law. And the rule of law and an independent judiciary, also guaranteed by the Basic Law, provided the fundamental basis for human rights protection in Hong Kong.

On constitutional development, Lam stressed that the HKSAR government consistently maintained the position that the electoral system of the Legislative Council did not contravene the convention's provisions as applied to Hong Kong.

She specifically referred to the reservation made in respect of Article 25(b) when the Covenant was extended by the United Kingdom government to Hong Kong in 1976 which continues to apply to Hong Kong after 1997.

This reservation allows Hong Kong to decide the method of forming the Legislative Council in the light of the actual situation and the principle of gradual and orderly progress as stipulated under the Basic Law.

(Xinhua News Agency March 22, 2006)