It was a nice touch when the government chose International Children’s Day for the start of its new
Commission on Children. Chief executive
Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor had promised, while still a candidate, to create a commission and this was an important step for local children. A commission which protects and advances the interests of children, and gives them a voice, can, if suitably equipped, be a powerful agent for change.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has applied to Hong Kong since 1994, yet many of the rights have yet to be fully realised. In 2005, this led the UN’s monitoring committee to say it was concerned at the lack of a comprehensive plan of action for the convention’s implementation in Hong Kong, and to conclude that existing child programmes were fragmented and unsatisfactory.
It called, moreover, for the creation of “an independent mechanism specifically to monitor the implementation of government policy in relation to the rights of the child”.
Convention signatories are required to uphold child rights, which include the right to life, survival and development, to having views considered, to protection from
abuse, neglect and exploitation, and to a
standard of living adequate for the child’s proper development. The government said this month its vision is to ensure “Hong Kong is a place where the rights, interests and well-being of all children are respected and safeguarded and their voices are heard”, and its new commission must be given every chance to prove its worth. We should, however, not hold our breath.
Chaired by Chief Secretary
Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, with Secretary for Labour and Welfare
Law Chi-kwong as his deputy, the commission lacks the independence which is invariably so crucial. This has been demonstrated in, for example, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, where children’s commissions enjoy real power and can, where necessary, hold governments to account. Although some eminent child advocates have been appointed to the commission as non-official members, their hands may well be tied.
Without a legal mandate of its own, and controlled by officials, there are real concerns that the commission will be little more than a talking shop, and the precedents are not reassuring.
