Our achievements

Achievements:
Report to UN
Progress Report

Our Achievements

Despite all the limitations, the Committee has, none the less, managed to accomplish a number of tasks towards the promotion of children's rights.

The first child friendly version of the UNCRC has finally been published!
香港第一本兒童版本的《兒童權利公約》終於面世！

	A Child's Eye View of the UNCRC	Order Form
	《小眼睛．大世界》兒童故事書	索取表格

"A Children's Commission for Hong Kong - Shaping the Future" independent report published in December 2006

A Children's Commission for Hong Kong - Shaping the Future

The alternative NGO Report under the CRC published in February 2005

NGO Report of the HKSAR under CRC in 2005

Children's Report to the UN Committee made
by the Children's Council Working Committee in 2005

Outline Report to the UN Committee in 1996

The first Children's Council in Hong Kong (2002/2003)

At present, in many policies concerning children, there are no built-in mechanisms or procedures by which representation of the views and opinion of the child is ensured. Successful precedents for a children's parliament/council have been set in many parts of the world like the UK, France, and Switzerland and in less developed countries such as the deserts of India's Rajasthan and Morocco, where children are allowed to express their views on issues that affect them. In this regard, three organizing agencies including Hong Kong Committee on Children's Rights, Against Child Abuse and Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF have been advocating for the establishment of a Children's Council in Hong Kong.

We hope that the successful implementation of this project will help to accelerate the establishment of a permanent Children's Council by demonstrating to the government and the public that children in Hong Kong are capable of having constructive and fruitful discussions as their counterparts all over the world.

The first Children's Council in Hong Kong was established in the year 2002/2003 as a pilot project sponsored by the Home Affairs Bureau. It was also an extension of the UNCRC - Child Ambassadors' Scheme that was launched in 2000 to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). It was jointly organized by the three agencies with the sponsorship of Home Affairs Bureau. In the year 2002/2003, three organizing agencies together with the Child Ambassadors jointed efforts to make the first Children's Council in Hong Kong come true.

Objectives:

To promote awareness of the UNCRC;
To realize children's rights to participation;
To provide children with an opportunity to develop an understanding of the legislative process of Hong Kong;
To enrich children's capabilities to participate in public issues and decision-making on issues that affect them;
To create a core group of children who are willing to actively support the promotion of children's rights and the establishment of a permanent Children's Council in Hong Kong.

Child Councilors:
The Children's Council consists of 60 seats, 10 of which are held by 10 Child Ambassadors while the remaining 50 by secondary school students from 10 schools. After initial screening and interview, 50 students were selected to become the first batch of Child Councilors in mid-December 2002.

Training Programmes:
The training programme was designed to help the Child Councilors prepare themselves for the Children's Council. A briefing session and a 4-session training camp were conducted on 21 December 2002 and 27-28 December 2002 respectively. The training programme helped to raise participants' understanding towards the UNCRC and children's rights, and the concept of participation, as well as team spirit building among them. Subject topics and work plans were also formulated during the training.

Motions of the Children's Council Meetings:
The 60 Child Councilors were divided into five groups. Each group initiated a topic which they spent several months to conduct research and survey, formulate arguments and prepare the motion document to be tabled. The respective motions were presented and debated in the Council Meetings in March 2003. The motions covered children's participation in curriculum development; integrated education for children; medical policies and services for children; the proposal of mandatory parent education to prevent child abuse; and the proposal of an official Extra-Curricular Activity Day for students.

The two-day Council Meetings:
The two-day Children's Council Meetings were held on 15 March and 22 March 2003 at the Legislative Council Building, where the five motions concerned by Child Councilors were moved and discussed. It opened a channel for children to express their views and allowed us to witness "Children speaking for Children": children participate in matters affecting themselves and being involved in the decision-making.

Report on the Sharing Session among the NGOs on the Rights of the Child in Hong Kong held on January 18, 1997

A sharing session organized by the Hong Kong Committee on Children's Rights aiming at promotion of the rights of children in Hong Kong and exploration of opportunities for joint effort to deal with issues of children's rights was held in the morning of January 18, 1997 at the Hong Kong Council of Social Service. The specific objectives of the sharing session were: (1) to update participants on the progress of Hong Kong's reporting to the UN on the Convention on the Rights of the Child; (2) to discuss issues on children's rights on concern to the NGOs; and (3) to identify means of working together to promote the rights of the child in Hong Kong.

It was felt that community education was a means to change social attitude of discriminating children with special needs and for promotion of children's rights in Hong Kong where parental rights seemed to be predominant. Moreover, it was also felt that there was a need to review existing laws, policies and services affecting children's rights so that changes may be made where appropriate. It was noted that coordination among governmental and non-governmental organizations should be encouraged to promote children's rights in Hong Kong.

The major concerns related to local children are: children's rights to play are undermined by the parents and the education system; housing policy should consider making living environments child-friendly; a holistic approach in promoting children's rights and working on issues related to children's rights should be encouraged; segregation of all children in Hong Kong is a concern which requires attitude change as in the case of local parents discouraging normal children from playing with and relating to disabled or mentally challenged children; children's liability to criminal offence at age 7 should be reviewed; children should be educated the concepts and meanings of the rights of the child; children should be protected from sexual exploitation which is negatively promoted by pornographic publications and violent films; health concerns in terms of nutrition, medications for children, and mental health for children such as teenage pregnancy, child suicide, play facilities and programs in hospitals should be given due attention; equal opportunities and rights for children to choose and participate in decision-making should be promoted.

In addition, concerning new immigrant children, their integration into the community should be helped by a review of the following policies; (1) education policy should consider an increase of school places and provision of remedial help on English lessons for these children, (2) housing policy to provide adequate living space for their families, (3) immigration policy to consider granting landed immigrant status to family as a unit so that children will be parented by both parents and united by their siblings, and (4) new immigrant children aged 15-18 are deprived of schooling and vocational training, female children are especially discriminated against in obtaining places in these system. It was hoped that work group(s) would be formed in the near future for further discussion of work plan and strategies for responding to the above-mentioned concerns.

1995 Conferences on Children's Rights

"From Child Protection to the Relevance of Children's Rights in Hong Kong."

In view of the extension of the Convention to Hong Kong in September 1994, the promotion of children's rights took on a new dimension. The emphasis is now on how the Convention can be and should be implemented in Hong Kong. With the generous support from the International Council on Childhood in the 21 st Century and International Association for the Child's Right to Play, the Committee organized a large scale multi-disciplinary conference that focused on and beyond child protection to children's rights on October 26-28, 1995.

"the child, by reasons of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguard and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth (Preamble of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child)"

The 3-day conference was a success. Over 170 professionals from a variety of disciplines attended the conference. With Miss Elsie Leung as the patron and Dr. Janie Thomas as the keynote speaker, the participants had a fruitful sharing on a number of topics ranging from different levels/ forms of child protection to how children's rights can be promoted from multidisciplinary collaborations. Indeed this is not the end of the good news. Because of the enthusiastic participation and support, we were endowed with a healthy surplus. With this surplus the Committee published a proceedings covering both the 1993 and 1995 professional conferences.

Youth Conference on Children's Rights

Children are what the Convention is all about, so they were not neglected. On 18^th November, 1995, a Youth Conference on Children's Rights was held. Unlike the previous conference, the target of this conference was secondary school children from various background. We had children from mainstream secondary schools, international schools, vocational schools, a special opportunity school, Vietnamese refugee camp, and new immigrant family from China. The main activity included a model UN debate by the older youth in the Council Chamber of the Baptist University on issues of children's rights. The younger participants were divided into 6 groups. Under the skillful leadership of experienced and dedicated facilitators they were encouraged to think and discuss their various rights of survival, education, protection and development through games and role play.

"I found the Conference on the Rights of the Child to be very interesting and informative. It was a great learning experience. I wish I could do it again. It was a lot of work finding the position of children in various countries, but it was worth it. I realize that children are really cared for. People realize that children, too, have rights." (Comments from one participant of Youth Conference)

1993 Conference on Children's Rights

Children and Youth Summit

In order to encourage children and youth to express their views on matters relating to their rights, a summit targeting at children and youth of ages between 8 to 17 was held on 30^th October, 1993. The Hong Kong Baptist University, Centre for Child Development, Playright, TREATS, Kelly Support Group, World Visions, Sara Beattie College and Against Child Abuse were involved. On that day over 150 children and youth warmly participated. It was a day of fun and excellent beginning for all of us. Children, youth and adults learnt what children's rights mean through drawing, story telling/ building and discussing issues relating to their rights.

Conference on Children's Rights in Hong Kong

In light of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, multidisciplinary professionals took part in this conference held on November 6^th, 1993, on the rights of the child in Hong Kong. The recommendations made by the Conference were incorporated into a report and subsequently submitted to the United Nations.

The Hon. Mrs. Elsie Tu was the patron and Dr. Stuart Hart, an internationally well known advocate of Children's Rights, was the keynote speaker. Together with the enthusiastic support and participation of many scholars and experts on children's welfare and rights, the conference was truly an invaluable occasion for professionals to share their experience and insights in the issue of children's rights.