The Government is fully committed to the protection of human rights, Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs Carrie Lam told the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

Mrs Lam is in New York to attend the committee's two-day hearing of Hong Kong's second report in light of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

"In Hong Kong, human rights and freedoms are guaranteed constitutionally by the Basic Law. And the rule of law and an independent judiciary, also guaranteed by the Basic Law, provide the fundamental basis for human rights protection in Hong Kong," Mrs Lam said.

On constitutional development, Mrs Lam told the committee that the 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 the reunification.

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.

The conventino is one of the six international human-rights treaties applicable to Hong Kong which entail reporting obligations. It has been extended to Hong Kong since 1976.

Basic Law Article 39 stipulates the provisions of the covenant, along with those of the International Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights and international labour conventions as applied to Hong Kong shall remain in force and be implemented through the laws of Hong Kong after the territory's 1997 handover.

Hong Kong's first report in light of the convention was submitted and heard by the committee in 1999.

The committee received the Hong Kong Government's second report on the convention's implementation in January, 2005, and sought further information on a list of issues in December, 2005.

Committee members will discuss these issues with the government delegation during the two-day hearing on March 20 and 21.