The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will begin seconding its young legal talents to the International Organization for Mediation this year to give their careers a leg-up and lift the city’s status as a premier global hub for legal and dispute resolution services.
Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok revealed the plan at a promotional event on Monday for a government-backed secondment channel for young professionals to world bodies, along with a separate exchange program for young lawyers to engage with cities that are key to the Belt and Road Initiative.
The initiative follows the launch of the permanent headquarters of IOMed — a historic, mediation-focused intergovernmental body — at the Old Wan Chai Police Station on Hong Kong Island in October last year.
The organization’s creation was said to be in response to mounting calls from developing economies for a more accessible and equitable system to resolve international disputes.
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Lam said secondment to IOMed offers young legal talents a direct insight into the operations of the groundbreaking body, and deep immersion in the latest global dispute resolution trends. It will also equip them with crucial future-ready know-how in cross-border legal cases, international negotiation, and collaborative legal practice.
Such a program is also instrumental in reinforcing the SAR’s bid to be a premier stronghold for law and dispute resolution, he said.
Zhang Changwei, deputy commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the HKSAR, said the establishment of the IOMed’s Hong Kong headquarters has opened up more avenues for local youth to rise within international organizations.
He said their hands-on roles in the organization’s operations and global governance work will enable them to critically examine how sound international law can be harnessed to promote good governance globally, and work for a more just and equitable global governance system.
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With the central government’s strong backing since the IOMed’s inception in 2015, the program has seen the SAR forge formal partnerships with premier global institutions. Partners like the Hague Conference on Private International Law, the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law have opened direct secondment posts for Hong Kong’s young legal professionals in these organizations, Lam said.
These arrangements have proved to be “highly beneficial”, offering youngsters vital exposure to international practice in the legal field and broadening their global outlook in the process, he said.
Contact the writer at wanqing@chinadailyhk.com
