Human rights protection in Hong Kong is enshrined in the Basic Law and its Bill of Rights Ordinance (Cap.383; the BORO). By virtue of the Bill of Rights Ordinance and Basic Law Article 39, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is put into effect. Any local legislation that is inconsistent with the Basic Law can be set aside by the courts. This does not apply to national legislation that applies to Hong Kong, such as the National Security Law, even if it is inconsistent with the Bills of Rights Ordinance, ICCPR, or the Basic Law.

Hong Kong is generally perceived to enjoy a moderate level of civil liberties. Although the Hong Kong government claims that it respects the human rights of citizens, there are significant concerns surrounding human rights in practice, particularly in the political sphere and press. There are concerns over the freedoms to the people which is restricted by the Public Order Ordinance, as well as strong domestic and international criticism of the national security law, perceived by many to have eroded certain rights. The United Nations and the UN human rights experts have repeatedly warned that offences under the NSL are vague and overly broad, facilitating abusive or arbitrary implementation.  The police has been occasionally accused of using heavy-handed tactics towards protestors and questions are asked towards the extensive powers of the police. As to the right of privacy, covert surveillance remains the major concern. There is a lack of protection for homosexuals due to the absence of a sexual orientation discrimination law. There are also comments regarding a lack of protection for labour rights. Despite these concerns, the territory continues to rank high in certain metrics, including economic freedom and rule of law.

Human rights in Hong Kong occasionally comes under the spotlight of the international community its status as a special administrative region of China. This is occasionally used as a yardstick by commentators to judge whether the People's Republic of China has kept its end of the bargain of the "One Country, Two Systems" principle granted to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region by the Basic Law.

Protection framework Sino-British Joint Declaration Under the Annex I (Section XI) of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, it stated that:

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government shall protect the rights and freedoms of inhabitants and other persons in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region according to law. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government shall maintain the rights and freedoms as provided for by the laws previously in force in Hong Kong, including freedom of the person, of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, to form and join trade unions, of correspondence, of travel, of movement, of strike, of demonstration, of choice of occupation, of academic research, of belief, inviolability of the home, the freedom to marry and the right to raise a family freely.

The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Under the Basic Law, the constitutional documents of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, certain rights and freedoms of Hong Kong residents (including both permanent residents and non-permanent residents) are guaranteed and safeguarded in Chapter III of the law. These rights and freedoms include:

equality before the law; permanent residents' right to vote and to stand for election in accordance with law; freedom of speech, of the press and of publication; freedom of association, of assembly, of procession and of demonstration; freedom to form and join trade unions, and to strike; the right from arbitrary or unlawful arrest, detention and imprisonment; the right from torture and unlawful deprivation of the life; the right from arbitrary or unlawful search of, or intrusion into resident's home or other premises; freedom and privacy of communication; freedom of movement within Hong Kong, of emigration to other countries or regions, and freedom to enter or leave Hong Kong; freedom of conscience; freedom of religious belief and to preach and to conduct and participate in religious activities in public; freedom of choice of occupation; freedom to engage academic research, literary and artistic creation, and other cultural activities; the right to confidential legal advice, access to the courts, choices of lawyers for timely protection of their lawful rights and interests or for representation in the courts, and to judicial remedies; the right to institute legal proceedings in the courts against the acts of the executive authorities and their personnel; the right to social welfare in accordance with law; freedom of marriage and the right to raise a family freely; and other rights and freedoms safeguarded by the laws of Hong Kong SAR.

Article 39 also expressly states that the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and international labour conventions as applied to Hong Kong shall remain in force in Hong Kong to the extent that they shall not contravene the provisions of the rights protected by the Basic Law.

Although these rights are explicitly vested in Hong Kong residents, non-residents in Hong Kong may also enjoy these rights and freedoms in accordance with law by Article 41.

In addition, Article 87 protects and preserves the rights previously enjoyed by parties to any criminal or civil proceedings, especially the right to fair trial by the courts without delay and the presumption of innocence until convicted by the courts. Article 105 protects the rights of property and the right to compensation for lawful deprivation of property of individuals and legal persons.

Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance

The Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance (Cap. 383)(the "Bill of Rights"), enacted in 1991, is the local adaptation of the provisions of the ICCPR as applied in Hong Kong. The Bill of Rights has largely been recognised by the courts as one of the constitutional documents alongside the Basic Law. However, the fact that the Bill of Rights was enacted in the form of an Ordinance (as a local primary legislation) means that the Legislature can amend or repeal the Bill of Rights by an ordinary enactment through ordinary legislative procedure, subject to judicial review. Furthermore, if any part of the Bill of Rights is held unconstitutional (i.e. any part contravenes the Basic Law), the courts are bound to strike down that part.

After the transfer of sovereignty, certain provisions of the Bill of Rights ceased to have effect, including sections 2(3) (duty to have regard to purpose of Ordinance in interpretation), 3(1) (duty to construe pre-existing legislation consistently with the Ordinance), 3(2) (pre-existing legislation that cannot be construed consistently is repealed) and 4 (all future to be construed so as to be consistent with the ICCPR as applied to Hong Kong). However, due to the entrenchment of the ICCPR as applied in Hong Kong in Article 39 of the Basic Law, the significance of the Bill of Rights Ordinance, which was modelled after the ICCPR, has been reinstated.

Some Basic Law rights overlap with the rights protected by the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance to certain extents while the provisions in the Bill of Rights and in the ICCPR are not identical. As a result, a right can be protected by either the Basic Law, the Bill of Rights, or the ICCPR as applied in Hong Kong at the same time.

Common law Before the enactment of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance, the protection of human rights in Hong Kong has largely relied on the common law of England. Civil liberties protection have a long history in English common law and are generally transcribed as human rights in modern time.

Under Articles 8 and 18 of the Basic Law, the laws previously in force in Hong Kong includes the common law rules which did not contravene the Basic Law and are part of the laws of HKSAR. Since colonial Hong Kong law defines "common law" as "the common law of England", Section 3 of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance, dated 30 June 1997 civil rights principles found in the English law are now part of Hong Kong laws as "laws previously in force in Hong Kong" by operation of Articles 8 and 18 and as "common law in force in Hong Kong" pursuant to section 3 of the current Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 1).

Those common law principles include those of statutory interpretation, such as the presumption that statutes do not operate retroactively (also codified in the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance), the doctrine that criminal enactments are to be strictly interpreted, the presumption that mens rea is required in a criminal offence, and the presumptions against a derogation of vested rights, ousting the court's jurisdiction, deprivations of private property without compensation and the presumption that the Legislature does not intend to legislate contrary to the State's international obligation.Johannes Chan and C.L. Lim, "Interpreting Constitutional Rights and Permissible Restrictions", Law of the Hong Kong Constitution (2nd Edition), 2015, Chapter 14, p.567

By virtue of Article 81 of the Basic Law, the Hong Kong SAR also inherits a common law jurisdiction which emphasises on due procedure, nature justice, fair trial without delay, the presumption of innocence, the right of silence, the right of bail, the right against double jeopardy, the right against self-incrimination, and the duty to exercise a statutory power fairly. These subjects matter often found in judicial review proceedings in Hong Kong, a significant and noticeable feature of human rights protection framework in Hong Kong.

Judicial review

Article 11 of the Basic Law provides that "no law enacted by the Legislature of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall contravene this Law." This Article has the effect that any Ordinance that contravenes the Basic Law shall be null and void. Hence, any legislation that contravenes Article 39 of the Basic Law, which entrenches the ICCPR, is also null and void.

It is well established that the Hong Kong Courts can now conduct the Marbury v. Madison type of judicial review to review the legislative and executive acts of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. This power exists before the handover since Hong Kong was governed by the Letters Patent, as opposed to Britain which has an unwritten constitution and where Parliament is sovereign.

In the landmark case of Ng Ka Ling and Others v. Director of Immigration, Chief Justice Andrew Li declared in emphatic terms:

The approach of the courts towards the review of the constitutionality of legislation was laid down in R v. Sin Yau Ming, which adopted the Canadian approach in R. v. Oakes. Once there is a prima facie violation of a protected right, the government bears the burden of justifying the breach by showing: The impugned provisions pursue a sufficiently important objective which is related to pressing and substantial concerns in a free and democratic society There is a rational connection between the objective and the means chosen The means adopted causes minimal impairment to the right of freedom in question The effects on the limitation of rights and freedoms are proportional to the objective

However, controversies exist over whether the courts have the power to conduct a constitutional review of a legislative act of the National People's Congress or its Standing Committee. The Court of Final Appeal stated in Ng Ka Ling that the courts do have such a power. However, this declaration provoked heavy criticisms from the mainland authorities and developed into a constitutional crisis.

Civil and political rights under domestic law Right to life