A unique portal that offers a repository of information on human rights in Hong Kong, Mainland China and the world in English and Chinese has been launched at HKU.

The Human Rights Portal draws on the resources of the Centre for Comparative and Public Law (CCPL), which has extensive legal and political connections around the world and a large collection of articles, documents, videos, guides and manuals on human rights.

"The Law Faculty has long been a site for collecting human rights knowledge both regionally and internationally, especially after 1997 when Hong Kong became the freest place in China," Professor Simon Young, Director of the CCPL and project co-ordinator for the Portal, says.

"We felt it was necessary to have some way to capture, organise and disseminate this valuable knowledge of the past, present and future. Most importantly, it had to be translated into Chinese to reach the wider Chinese audience both in Hong Kong and other parts of the Mainland and Taiwan. To have this kind of content available in English and Chinese must be a first."

The Portal, which received KE funding, is targeted at professionals in the field, such as government officials, non-government organisations, practitioners and students, as well as those new to the subject. Professor Young stressed it was meant to be more than a reporting centre on human rights.

"The content is fairly advanced and tends to be more socio-legal analysis than merely factual. It is not so much aimed at raising awareness about current rights violations but at providing analysis and research on human rights issues. As China moves closer towards a rule of law society, this kind of information becomes extremely useful and valuable," Professor Young says.