Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas makes this submission in response to the Security Bureau’s public consultation on improving the laws on sexual offences in Hong Kong, launched in July 2026.
Under Article 39 of the Basic Law, the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) as applied to Hong Kong remain in force and are given effect in domestic law through the Hong Kong Bill of Rights. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) likewise applies to Hong Kong; its Articles 1 and 5 require States parties to eliminate discrimination against women, including prejudices and customary practices based on stereotyped notions of gender.
This submission also refers to the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (the Istanbul Convention) as a point of reference. Although the Istanbul Convention is not a treaty binding on Hong Kong, the standards it sets on consent, sexual-history evidence and the protection of survivors are widely cited as a comparative benchmark for sexual-offences legislation, and this submission refers to it to illustrate the specific content of the relevant standards.
This submission assesses the proposals against the standards above and identifies the gaps between the draft proposals and international human rights standards.