Time for Action

Dennis Chi Kuen Ho, Partner Ho & Ip, CIF3 Organising Committee

The Hong Kong’s Children Bill for the reform was expected to be released in July this year after a long long wait since the recommendations from the Law Reform Commission in its report in March 2005.  Now, we have yet to see the first draft of the bill to be released to the public.  This is very likely to miss the discussion at CIF 3 conference which is going to kick off on 13 November 2015. 

The Forum is a platform specially arranged to gauge the experiences and comments from top level judges from various jurisdictions on the draft bill.  Some of these judges have vast experiences in dealing with children matters under the old concept of ‘custody and access’ to the changes to ‘parental responsibility’ under which there were further reforms since its introduction. 

Hong Kong Judges from the Court of Appeal in their respective judgments expressly voiced for the need to reform and said it could have stopped some of the cases brought before them.  Hong Kong should not wait too long for a children bill to be introduced.  Our government is urged to bring forth a bill they promised before the end of this year. 
 
Obviously the drafting of a children bill involves consideration of a lot of issues. While Hong Kong would like to see a workable reform for the benefit of the children and parents, it is equally important to set up various supporting services advocated by NGOs on many occasions in the past years.  

Children’s right to voice their views and wishes at times of their parents’ separation have not been fully and effectively addressed. Parents going for separation should be reminded of the rights of the children to see the other parent and not to alienate a child from the other parent. A programme for separating parents to direct their focus on the interest on children will be helpful for co-parenting in future.  

​We need contact contres to be set up and yet such centres could at the same time become more useful and effective if this is a platform for children to seek for help and address their needs.  No doubt, there are a lot of things for consideration but Hong Kong has been talking about the reform and the necessary supporting services for over a decade.  It is time to take action.