The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government will send a delegation to attend the meetings of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in Geneva, Switzerland, on May 12.

As part of the Chinese delegation, the Hong Kong SAR Government delegation will introduce to the committee the part of China’s ninth report under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) that is related to the Hong Kong SAR.

The Hong Kong SAR Government delegation will also answer the committee’s questions on the CEDAW’s implementation in the city.

This is the fourth time the committee has examined a report submitted by the Hong Kong SAR under the CEDAW since 1999. The previous round of hearing was held in October 2014.

The Hong Kong SAR Government noted that since the last hearing, the room for development for women in Hong Kong has been continuously expanding.

“As always, we will resolutely and clearly explain to the international community the progress made in women’s development in Hong Kong, and strive to do our best in publicity work,” it said in a press release.

The Hong Kong SAR Government also pointed out that while the CEDAW’s objective is to safeguard women’s rights, remove barriers and gender stereotypes against women and ensure women’s full development, it noticed that some non-governmental organisations (NGOs), many of which are not based in Hong Kong, have made submissions to the committee that are highly politically charged.

Many of the statements in these submissions are based on false information and distorted narratives regardless of the truth, with flawed comments on the human rights situation in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong SAR Government delegation will make cogent clarification and stern rebuttals to any vilification at the hearing, it added.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong SAR Government also noted that it was aware of the untruthful biased commentary regarding the National Security Law’s implementation and the handling of the 2019 riots, presented at the informal meeting between the committee and NGOs yesterday in Geneva.

Apart from strongly refuting such a commentary, the Hong Kong SAR Government also strongly condemned the vilification and smearing in respect of the so-called “gender-based violence” alleged to be committed by Police during the serious violence in 2019.

Click here for the Hong Kong SAR’s fourth report under the CEDAW as well as the Hong Kong SAR Government’s written response to the committee’s List of Issues.