[Karuna Shinsho, Cnn Anchor:] In August, South Africa will host a United Nations conference on racism and intolerance. But the U.N. has already come out with a host of recommendations for governments around the world to consider, including those in Asia. This week's cover story looks at the pressure building on the Hong Kong government to tackle what activists say is a much-ignored issue, racial discrimination.
[Shinsho:] Harinder Veriah was a Hong Kong lawyer. Last year, she was admitted to a local hospital after suffering a convulsion. Her husband, Martin Jacques, tried to find out what the doctors were doing to treat his wife.
[Martin Jacques:] It was worse than talking to a brick wall. I turned to Hari, and I said, a fat lot of use that was, and she said to me, I'm at the bottom of the pile here, and I was incredibly shocked. And I said, what do you mean? And she said, I'm the only Indian, and everyone else is Chinese.
[Shinsho:] The following morning, Harinder was dead. Jacques says the hospital refuses to investigate his wife's claims, and the government denies any problem exists, but Jacques believes racism against his wife was real.
[Jacques:] Hari used to suffer, speaking and understanding Cantonese as she did, frequently people would walk past her on the street and say in Cantonese to her "black bean
[Shinsho:] It's not clear how widespread such behavior is in Hong Kong, where ethnic minorities make up only a few percent of the total population. But one of the territory's legislators says the government hasn't been doing enough to find out.
[Cyd Ho, Legislative Counselor:] There is no statistic, no concrete figure, because the administration would not want to find out the truth. That is our major grievance. Then, even though in the last few months, it contracted A.C. Nielsen, a consultation company, to conduct a survey on the discriminatory situation in Hong Kong about race. However, they did not pinpointedly to ask the minority. Instead, they asked a lot of members from the majority who, of course, obviously thinks that discrimination doesn't exist in Hong Kong.
[Shinsho:] We took our camera out onto the streets for an informal survey, but reaction to whether or not people felt discriminated against was mixed.
[Unidentified Male:] They just tease us with different kind of names, and they don't respect us. I don't think racism exists in Hong Kong. Because, it's like, lots of my friends are not from Hong Kong, but they still got a job, and their boss are good to them. I don't think racism exists in Hong Kong.
[Shinsho:] The Hong Kong government agrees. According to a written statement to CNN from the Home Affairs Bureau: "We consider that all forms of discrimination, including racial discrimination, are wrong. Having said that, we must point out that Hong Kong has never known any of the more extreme forms of racial discrimination. No one in Hong Kong has ever been lynched or dragged behind a car because of the color of his or her skin." It goes on to say, "We recognize that there is room for improvement and are not by any means complacent. But we believe that our record in that regard compares well with that of other jurisdictions. Indeed, it is one that might justly be envied." But Hong Kong Against Race Discrimination, which represents the interests of some 14 groups, say discrimination against ethnic minorities in the territories, though not extreme, is still pervasive.
[Ravi Gidumal, H.k. Against Race Discrimination:] I think for the average darker skin minority in Hong Kong, you're looking at issues related to public transportation, where taxi drivers won't stop for you, whether people won't sit with you on the bus, or whether a minibus will similarly just drive right past you. Whether it's in accommodation. Prospective landlord would just turn you away from their properties, and tell you to your face that they won't rent to you because of the country of origin, or your racial background. Whether it's employers, again, denying you work. Or in some cases, once again, blatant reasoning that they want white skin people or Chinese people to work for them, and not brown people.
[Shinsho:] Not only are local activists unhappy, the United Nations also condemned the Hong Kong government just last month for what it called, "its failure to extend prohibition of race discrimination to the private sector." The U.N. says the territory has an obligation to implement anti- race discrimination legislation. But for some, legislation isn't the only answer.
[Ho:] Even though we have a piece of law passed to regulate against certain conduct, but if it is not from the free choice and not from the heart from the majority to respect the other ethnic minority, then a piece of legislation could only bear deterrent effect. But that might not help our harmony, the society with a positive approach.
[Shinsho:] Others say a law that has too many teeth might actually backfire.
[Gidumal:] We don't want to have things like the affirmative action- type policies put in place, because we don't think they're necessary. We don't want a law to be so harsh that people start to resent it. We want it to be educational, as other laws are. In fact, our own perspective would be that to start off with, you would even have a warning-type system put in place. Subsequently, you put in mind the fines. If you make it too harsh, people will resent it, and you'll achieve nothing.
[Shinsho:] And for Martin Jacques, who lost his wife to what he believes is racist behavior, legislation would be no consolation. He's returned to London with his 2-year-old son Ravi. But he still hopes legislation outlawing racial discrimination will prevent others from suffering a similar fate. The hospital where Harinder Veriah died said there was absolutely no discrimination against her. The hospital says a foreigner concluded she died of natural causes. Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Home Affairs Bureau says it's currently revisiting the question of a law against racial discrimination on the part of private individuals and organizations. It says it hopes to reach a conclusion in early 2002. END TO ORDER VIDEOTAPES AND TRANSCRIPTS OF CNN INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMING, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE THE SECURE ONLINE ORDER FROM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com