Press Releases

Discrimination Law Review by Equal Opportunities Commission

     In response to press enquiries, a Government spokesman said today (October 31) that the Government expects the Equal Opportunities Commission to consider all the views collected during its public consultation on the Discrimination Law Review thoroughly and carefully before making its recommendations on the way forward.

     "The Review was conducted by the Equal Opportunities Commission on the Commission's own initiative," the spokesman said.

     "To our understanding, the main purpose of the Review is to improve the operation of the existing anti-discrimination ordinances, which relate to discrimination on grounds of sex, race, family status and disability.

     "We have since noted, however, that the scope of the Review appears to be much more ambitious than an operational review, and indeed touches on some highly sensitive issues. We note that the public have expressed strong and divergent views on some of these sensitive issues during the public consultation period, and that a large number of submissions have been made to the Commission.

     "We expect the Commission to give thorough and due consideration to all the views expressed during the public consultation, conduct thorough research drawing on the experiences of relevant jurisdictions and balance the interests and concerns of all the concerned stakeholders in the community before making its recommendations," the spokesman said.

Ends/Friday, October 31, 2014