International Symposium on Girls in Conflict with the Law & Joint Program on Child Welfare

The International Symposium on Girls in Conflict with the Law (GICL) and the Joint Program on Child Welfare (JPCW) are innovative digital exchanges and virtual meetings that bring together experts at the intersection of child welfare, juvenile justice and gender-sensitive policy.

For GICL, Dui Hua joined with partners  Patricia Lee, Managing Attorney of the Juvenile Unit of the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office; the Centre of Comparative and Public Law and the Centre for Criminology of the University of Hong Kong (HKU); and Penal Reform International. The symposium follows the success of several related programs undertaken by Dui Hua, including five juvenile justice exchanges with China’s Supreme People’s Court and the 2014 exchange “Women in Prison: An International Symposium on the Bangkok Rules.”

In each GICL webinar you can hear panel discussions, keynote addresses, research presentations, collaborative case studies, and presenters share best practices on specific topics around girls in conflict with the law. Professors, lawyers, journalists, social workers, judges, and activists from the United States, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and China share their expertise and recommendations. Webinar topics include domestic violence/abuse, criminal procedures for girl offenders, restorative justice and diversion practices, sex trafficking of girls, Indigenous girls and youth, best practice in gender sensitive criminal justice, and the psychological and social impact of the criminal justice system on girl offenders worldwide.

The JPCW was a virtual expert exchange on the subject of child welfare laws with four judges from China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) and four child welfare Judges and experts from the United States. The event sought to increase understanding of children’s rights and best practices in the application of law in China and the United States. Panelists from both countries emphasized key concepts for protecting the rights of the child, such as requiring mandatory reporting of abuse for individuals who work closely with minors and employing state removal of a child from family guardianship only as a last resort. This represents the eighth collaboration between Dui Hua and the SPC on juvenile justice. It is believed to be the first exchange on child welfare laws in the two countries.