Leading figures from the Hong Kong Federation of Women (HKFW) are taking to UN's top human rights body to voice their concerns about people's livelihoods in Hong Kong affected by the ongoing and increasingly violent protests, pledging to "show the world real situation in Hong Kong."
The comments were made by Pansy Ho Chiu-king, daughter of Hong Kong and Macao-based casino tycoon Stanley Ho, and Annie Wu Suk-ching, daughter of catering group Maxim's founder, ahead of their speeches at the 42nd meeting of the UN Human Rights Council held in Geneva on Monday.
Pansy Ho, who is the president of the HKFW, said the negative impact of the violent protesters who set ablaze public facilities and vandalized metro stations have spread from tourism and the catering industry to the entire economy of Hong Kong.
"Our consumption has definitely shrunk by about 70 percent," she told reporters. "The poorest are some of our small merchants. They simply can’t continue to operate."
"And until now, there's been no opportunity and it's impossible to restore the public facilities that have been destroyed. Many people have lost the convenience of transportation. They can't go out or go back to the workplace."
"It was said that Hong Kong's work efficiency used to be five times that of Beijing. Now the work efficiency in Beijing is three or four times that of Hong Kong. Also, we can see that young people are developing very fast on the Chinese mainland," said Annie Wu, HKFW's supervisory consultant.
"I've been to the mainland more than 3,000 times. In the western area, I went to Ningxia and Qinghai. The development of the west is much more advanced than before," she noted.
"Despite the large population, the work of poverty alleviation has been very successful. First is because of the good policies of the central government. The second reason is that local government and people work very hard."
The two businesswomen will speak on behalf of the HKFW to offer a "fact-based perspective" of recent happenings and "show the world the real situation in Hong Kong."
Ho has submitted a written statement to the council in which she said the views of a small group of radical protesters do not represent the views of all 7.5 million people in Hong Kong.