Distr. GENERAL E/C.12/1996/SR.27-55/Add.1/Corrigendum 17 June 1999 ENGLISH Original: FRENCH

The present document contains the corrections received from members of the Committee, delegations and the Secretariat applying to the English text of the summary records of the public meetings of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights at its fifteenth session (E/C.12/1996/SR.27-30, 31-34, 35/Add.1, 36, 37-40, 41-45, 46/Add.1, 47-49, 54/Add.1 and 55/Add.1).

The Committee also held 11 closed meetings, the summary records of which (E/C.12/1996/SR.30/Add.1, 35, 36/Add.1, 40/Add.1, 46, 50-54 and 55) were issued in restricted distribution. No corrections to the records of the closed meetings were received.

With the issuance of the present corrigendum, the summary records of the meetings held by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights at its fifteenth session are to be considered final.

Paragraph 20, line 11

For Burns read Byrnes

Paragraph 23, line 2

For Burns read Byrnes

Paragraph 53

Line 2: after three cases insert concerning Vietnamese refugees

Line 7: replace China by Viet Nam

Paragraph 7

Replace the existing text, up to the end of the penultimate sentence, by the following:

7. Mr. STEEL (United Kingdom), replying to Mr. Grissa, said that he did not think it was correct that none of the persons in question could become Chinese citizens. But the acquisition of Chinese citizenship was a matter for Chinese law and he could not give an authoritative interpretation of it. He accepted, however, that in practice most of the persons in question would in fact not acquire Chinese citizenship. Those persons were currently British Dependent Territory citizens by virtue of their connection with Hong Kong, through having been born, naturalized or registered there. They would necessarily cease to be British Dependent Territory citizens at midnight on 30 June 1997 when Hong Kong ceased to be a British Dependent Territory. They did, however, have an automatic right to apply for lifelong British National (Overseas) status, and to receive a British passport as such, under the Hong Kong British Nationality Order, 1986 (as amended in 1993). If any should fail to meet the deadline for the submission of applications, or choose not to apply, and if they would otherwise then become stateless, they would automatically become British Overseas citizens on 1 July 1997, as would their children (and, in most cases, their grandchildren) at birth, if those children would otherwise become stateless.

Paragraph 8

Line 1 should read

8. Neither British National (Overseas) nor British Overseas citizen status

Line 3: replace dependent territories by Dependent Territory

Line 4: before ethnic insert the

Lines 8 to 10 should read

Chinese Foreign Minister had reiterated that assurance to the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary. Members of the ethnic minorities, who considered Hong Kong to be their home, were therefore guaranteed the right to remain there.

Paragraph 10

Lines 3 to 5 should read

and the Covenants, as attracted by the Basic Law. Those who were entitled to British passports, as British Nationals (Overseas) or British Overseas citizens, would have the right to travel on those passports and to protection when abroad. It would be up to China to decide whether to accord

Paragraph 11

Line 6: replace dependent territories by Dependent Territory

Line 11: for section 2 (a) read section 2A

Line 12: delete own

Paragraph 14, line 5

Replace right to work by freedom of choice of occupation

Paragraph 15

Line 2: replace definition of what constituted by list of political rights of

Line 3: for section 2 (a) read section 2A

Paragraph 4

Line 4: replace Older persons by Single elderly persons

Lines 5 and 6: replace a food allowance of 1,035 dollars a month by on average a monthly allowance of 2,980 dollars

Paragraph 11

Lines 3 and 4 should read

conditions in "cage dwellings". The Government recognized that there was a demand, albeit not large, for low-cost accommodation of that type. At present, there were about 2,700 people living in bedspace apartments, of whom about 1,600 might need to be rehoused as a result of the licensing scheme, which, in improving safety in bedspace apartments, in all likelihood also resulted in a reduction in the number of people living in such premises. The Government did not

Line 5: for 1,600 read 1,100

Paragraph 25

Line 10: replace guidance department by placement unit

Line 16: should read

schools by September 1997, and a further five primary schools and 16 secondary

Line 17: replace establishments by schools

Paragraph 27, line 7

Replace article 53/A by section 53A

Paragraph 32, line 6

For Recovery of Proceeds read (Recovery of Proceeds)

Paragraph 39

Line 1: replace Legislative Council by Hong Kong Government

Line 3 to the end of the paragraph should read

protection. If the amendments in respect of maternity protection were enacted, entitlement to maternity leave would be extended to pregnant employees who had worked for at least 18 hours a week for a period of four weeks for the same employer - i.e. who had been employed under a continuous employment contract under the Employment Ordinance. Maternity leave pay would be granted to pregnant employees who had been in continuous employment with the same employer for not less than 40 weeks immediately before the date of commencement of maternity leave, irrespective of the number of living children.

Paragraph 40, line 1

Delete contract

Paragraph 49

The last three lines should read

people receiving benefits under the CSSA scheme were not reimbursed for medical expenses for direct patient care, regardless of whether they were for traditional Chinese medicine or western medicine, since CSSA recipients were entitled to free medical treatment at public hospitals or clinics.

Paragraph 57

Lines 4 to 6 should read

compensate for the shortage of school premises by operating morning and afternoon sessions in the same school building for double the intake. That was a temporary situation which the Government was gradually

Paragraph 58

Lines 3 and 4 should read

For example, in line with the spirit of the Disability Discrimination Ordinance, the Education Department had taken steps to ensure that all publicly funded primary and secondary schools built from 1998 onwards must be designed to be

Paragraph 70

At the end of the paragraph insert These included the economic integration with China through economic restructuring in Hong Kong and cross-border trade with China.