Late last year, in response to an invitation to address the Asia-Pacific Chapter of the International Academy of Family Lawyers, Prof. Anne Scully-Johnson set out to conduct primary research with government departments and bureaux, NGOs and lawyers on how COVID-19 was shaping Hong Kong children’s experience of domestic violence and what steps had been taken in Hong Kong to remedy any problems. However, it soon became clear from interviewees’ responses that the epidemic was impacting on children’s legal rights and interests in many spheres of their lives, not limited to child protection issues, but extending to education, adoption, care and social welfare issues. In this online seminar, Prof. Scully-Johnson will present both the domestic violence findings and the broader findings arising from her research and consider those against the general background of Hong Kong children’s rights and participation in legal issues which affect them.

About the Speaker:

Prof. Anne Scully-Johnson, Associate Professor (Adjunct), Faculty of Law, CUHK, and Committee member of the Children’s Issues Forum (CIF)