The Right to Health in Hong Kong: Incorporation, Implementation, and Balancing

Abstract

<p>Every human being is entitled to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health conducive to living a life in dignity.’ The majority of it is excluded from the corpus of constitutional rights. Hong Kong is a common law jurisdiction that exists within China. The Basic Law – its constitutional document – creates within Hong Kong a system of constitutional rights. The problem with their argument is a lack of support in the positive law. It assumes a judicial attitude that is willing to give effect to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) rights – a willingness that is only precluded by a lack of implementation in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, a large part of its right to health depends upon recognition through the Hong Kong government’s policies, rather than through the application of public law by the courts.<br></p>