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Children’s Issues Forum: Experts share insights into framing of the long awaited Hong Kong Children Bill
The Opening of the two-day disciplinary Forum – Children’s Issues Forum (CIF3) – was successfully held at the Graduate Law Centre of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in the Bank of America Tower today (13 November 2015). Around 200 participants including academics, local and overseas judges and legal professionals, health professionals, and government and NGO officials shared their insights into how the long awaited Hong Kong Children Bill should be framed and other issues related to children’s rights and welfare.
The Hon. Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma Tao-Li, GBM, Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, The Rt. Hon Sir Matthew Thorpe, former Lord Justice of Appeal, England and Wales, Prof Christopher Gane, Dean of the Faculty of Law and Simon F.S. Li Professor of Law, CUHK and Prof Michael Hor, Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong attended the Opening of the Forum and delivered speeches.
10 years ago, the Law Reform Commission published its paper on ‘Child Custody and Access’. However, despite calls for reform from lawyers, commentators and even from the Judiciary, the Children Bill is still not yet introduced. Professor Anne Scully-Hill, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, CUHK, and a member of the CIF3 Organising Committee, said, ‘The current law on children’s custody is outdated and inadequate; particularly, we all know that there have been considerable changes of society norms and value over the past decade. We hope that the suggestions coming out from the two-day discussion on children custody, joint parental responsibility, dispute resolution, the establishment of an independent Children’s Ombudsman and so forth, will be considered by the HKSAR government and reflected in the long awaited Children Bill.’
On the second day of the Forum to be held on 14 November, the professionals will discuss specific issues affecting children, such as a review of the Children’s Dispute Resolution Practice, the challenges entailed in representing children’s perspectives in legal proceedings, frontline experience with child poverty, and a review of data and policy opportunities in Hong Kong and internationally.
CIF3 was organized collaboratively between the Faculty of Law of CUHK, the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong, the Law Society of Hong Kong, the Family Law Association, and with the support of the Hong Kong Bar Association. The first and the second Children’s Issues Forum were held in 2009 and 2012. One of the major aims of the Forum is to raise awareness of legal issues relating to children lives; a further aim is to learn from existing research how to promote a multi-disciplinary approach to addressing those issues in the best possible way.
(From left 4th-7th) Prof. Christopher Gane, Dean of the Faculty of Law and Simon F.S. Li Professor of Law, CUHK; The Rt. Hon Sir Matthew Thorpe, former Lord Justice of Appeal, England and Wales; the Hon. Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma Tao-Li, GBM, Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal; and Prof Michael Hor, Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong attend the Opening of the Children's Issues Forum.
The Hon. Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma Tao-Li, GBM, Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal delivers a keynote speech.
Prof. Anne Scully-Hill, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, CUHK (right), and Mr. Dennis Ho Chi-Kuen, a solicitor. Both are members of the CIF3 Organizing Committee.
