Twenty years on: Victories and setbacks for Hong Kong’s Equal Opportunities Commission
Past commission chairwoman Anna Wu, who was instrumental in the creation of the equality watchdog, fears the government does not have the will to pursue the issue further
This month marks 20 years since Hong Kong’s one and only statutory body specifically dealing with equality issues was established. Since then, the operation of the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) has been marked as much by turmoil as triumph.
Even its formation was a difficult one, the result of a passsionate and at times painful campaign against a backdrop of a politically charged time in Hong Kong’s history.
Former chairwoman and current Executive Council member Anna Wu Hung-yuk is credited by many as instrumental in introducing equality laws to Hong Kong and the commission’s establishment back in 1996.
Wu was then a lawmaker in the Legislative Council, the final appointment in 1993 to the legislature by Hong Kong’s last British governor, Chris Patten.
With no voters to answer to, she was able to focus all her energy on two pet projects – the fight for a representative government and the creation of a human rights protocol.
She said the pre-1997 era of uncertainty presented a window of opportunity when it came to establishing the commission.
