Human Rights: Source, Contents and Enforcement: Sharing Session by Mr. Justice Kemal Bokhary

Sharing Session

Jointly organized by CityU’s School of Law, Run Run Shaw Library and Thomson Reuters (Publisher), the event features a talk, a Q&A session and a book signing session.

During the talk, Mr. Justice Kemal Bokhary shared his views and study of human rights as written in his latest publication, Human Rights: Source, Contents and Enforcement (Hong Kong: Sweet & Maxwell – Thomson Reuters, 2015). He

• identified the source of human rights, namely the human person in which they are inherent;
• described their nature, pointing out that they consist of the minimum entitlements which each of us are entitled to expect and must accord so that we may all live and let live with human dignity;
• pointed out that in the aftermath of the Second World War, humankind, by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, affirmed its faith in the enforcement of human rights as the surest means of attaining a just world order and thereby world peace;
• analyzed the content of human rights - civil and political rights, socio-economic rights and group rights;
• examined some specific human rights to illustrate human rights in action;
• discussed the means by which human rights are enforced; and
• addressed, with particular reference to Hong Kong, democracy as a human right.

Biographical Sketch of Mr. Justice Kemal Bokhary

The Honourable Mr. Justice Syed Kemal Shah Bokhary, GBM was one of three Permanent Judges of Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal from its inception in 1997 until he reached the mandatory retirement age in 2012; afterwards, he remained on the bench as a non-permanent judge. Mr. Justice Bokhary was born in Hong Kong. He received his legal education in London and became a member of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. He was called to the English Bar in 1970 and to the Hong Kong Bar the following year. Since retirement as a Permanent Judge, he has published several books, including two recollections. Mr. Justice Bokhary is an Honorary Life Member of the Hong Kong Bar Association. He was awarded the Grand Bauhinia Medal in 2012.

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