How Hong Kong has an attitude problem
THE Hong Kong Committee on Children's Rights has called for a ''fundamental change in our attitudes towards our young''.
Dr Patricia Yip, the committee's chairperson, is concerned that however admirable Hong Kong success in ensuring health and providing education to its young people, our society is failing their emotional and psychological needs.
''The major problem is our attitude to our children,'' she said. ''We should respect their rights as something they should have, not as something we can bestow on them through our generosity.'' Last week the Hong Kong Government announced that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, already signed by more than 150 countries, would be extended to the territory by the end of this month. Dr Yip welcomed the move, saying it would serve as a set of standards for us to judge how we treated our children.
''It ensures the child's basic rights to survival, protection and development under the principles of non-discrimination and the best interests of the child with his or her participation,'' she said.
Dr Yip also called for a child policy and programme of action specific for Hong Kong, a comprehensive set of child ordinances with laws amended to comply with the convention, and for an independent Child Commission set up to promote, implement and monitor its compliance.
A spokesman for the Home Affairs department said that with the enactment of the Parental and Child Ordinance last year, which remedied discriminatory provisions concerning illegitimate children, Hong Kong laws already fully accorded with the convention.
''We do not believe that any legislative measures are required,'' he said. ''But extension of the Convention will place Hong Kong under a continuing international obligation to respect the rights of children and protect and provide for their interests.'' Children's rights have frequently been interpreted as giving children the right to challenge and undermine parental authority and decision making. But this is not the point of the convention. It addresses, more importantly, the need to ensure the well-being of children in a world where they are subject to much abuse, whether it be in the brothels of Thailand, the sweat shops of India or toddlers being left alone in Hong Kong homes.