Public Programmes
Exhibition Talks
Refugee Protection in Hong Kong Today 
Speaker: Surabhi Chopra
Raquel Amadopr
Chloe Fung
Date: 2021.03.31 (Wed)
Time: 5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Venue: Online (zoom session details will be given after registration).
Language: English
Abstract:
This talk will focus on people seeking asylum / refugees in present-day Hong Kong. We will discuss the forces that drive people to seek asylum in Hong Kong and the circumstances in which they live here.
China has not extended the 1951 Refugee Convention to Hong Kong, which means that the government is not bound by this international treaty to recognize and protect the rights of refugees. However, Hong Kong is a party to the United Nations Convention against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Thus, the Hong Kong government is obligated under these treaties to protect people in Hong Kong – regardless of their formal residence status – from torture, refoulement, persecution, ill-treatment or arbitrary deprivation of life. These obligations have prompted the establishment of an official system to evaluate whether individuals would face these risks if returned to their countries of origin.
If someone’s claim for protection from forcible return to their country is found to be valid, and they are recognised as a refugee (who the government labels as a ‘substantiated non-refoulement claimant’), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees works to re-settle them in a third country. This process can take many years. In the meantime, families seeking asylum navigate many challenges accessing education, employment, availing social services, and making ends meet financially in Hong Kong.
In our talk, we will examine the governmental and United Nations mechanisms in relation to refugees in Hong Kong. We will also discuss the socio-economic realities of being an asylum applicant in Hong Kong. We will highlight civil society advocacy in Hong Kong, including advocacy by refugees themselves, to recognise and respect the rights of refugees. Finally, we will outline areas for future reform.
Speakers:
The talk will be held by the research team of the project Immigration Detention and Vulnerable Migrants in Hong Kong: Evaluating the System, Facilitating Reform (funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council). Surabhi Chopra is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, CUHK specialising in human rights. Raquel Amador is a researcher, lawyer and civil society advocate specialising in migrants’ rights. Chloe Fung is a researcher with a particular interest in data analysis and visualisation to advance rights protection and transparency.
Registration: https://www.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/en/node/2517
1. Religions, Social service and Art
Speaker: Adam Voysey
Chan Mei Yung
Steven Nesheim
Host by Samson Wong
Date: 2020.11.07 (Sat)
Time: 8:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Venue: Online (zoom)
Language: English
Abstract:
Former artists from the collective, Art In the Camps, are going to share their experience working inside the detention camps in Hong Kong back in the late 80s. Also, they are going to share reflection and insights on how they see the relationship among religions, social service and art are.
Recorded talk link :
https://cuhk.zoom.us/rec/share/uLp9EAMXZi2v0BHx9bJGM0D77jfg4s3I8CDQV9AOXuKgonWZ_P8X00sX5cQoKx6h.2T-OuVYi1nB9di09
Passcode : AIC_sharing1
2. A Sea of Ties: Vietnam, Hong Kong and their Southeast Asian Neighbours from 1970s-1990s
Speaker: Carina Hoang, PhD
Date: 2021.02.26 (Fri)
Time: 3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Venue: Online (zoom)
Language: English
Abstract:
Hong Kong played a significant role during the Vietnamese boat-people crisis, taking in over 190,500 boat-people, second to Malaysia (254,000), and ahead of Indonesia (121,000), Thailand (117,000) and the Philippines and Singapore. What were the sociopolitical impacts of this monumental feat to Hong Kong and its Southeast Asian neighbours? Carina Hoang, PhD, author of 'From both sides of the fence - History of Vietnamese boat people in Hong Kong from 1975 to 2000’ , will expand our understanding of Southeast Asia and its relationship with Hong Kong.
About Dr. Carina Hoang:
Dr. Hoang escaped from Vietnam at the age of sixteen on a wooden boat with her two siblings and 370 other people. She survived the harrowing journey and the extreme challenges that followed in a primitive refugee camp, and ultimately was accepted for resettlement in the United States. She completed a BA in Chemistry, a BA in Gender and Cultural Studies, an MBA and a PhD in Humanities. In 2011 Dr. Hoang was inducted into the Western Australia Women Hall of Fame. In 2012 she was appointed as Special Representative to the UN Refugee Agency's Australian charity, Australia for UNHCR. Her first book, Boat People: Personal Stories from the Vietnamese Exodus 1975-1996 received the 2012 Independent Publisher Book Awards for Best Regional Non-Fiction (Australia and New Zealand). Her latest book HOLODOMOR - Silenced Voices of the Starved Children received the 2019 Independent Publisher Book Awards for Europe Best Non-Fiction.
3. What is ‘Art In the Camps’?
Speaker: Prof. Sophia Law Suk-man (Associate Professor, Department of Visual Studies, Lingnan University. Author of ‘The Invisible Citizens - Art and Stories of Vietnamese Boatpeople’)
Ocean Chan Wai Kwong (M.Phil in Anthropology, CUHK. Author of ’From refugee camps to city streets : young Vietnamese in Hong Kong’)
Leung Ho Yin (Lecturer, Department of Fine Arts, CUHK. Curator of Nàng Tự Do)
Host by Samson Wong
Date: 2021.03.13 (Sat)
Time: 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Venue: Digital Scholarship Lab, G/F, University Library, CUHK
Language: Cantonese
Abstract:
Art in the Camps was an art programme for Vietnamese boatpeople in detention centres. The experiences, artworks and archive left behind have inspired three different academic studies from the perspectives of Anthropology, Art and Trauma, and Socially-Engaged Art. The three writers of the studies will gather to share their perspectives and findings, and provide audiences with a fuller understanding of what it was, and what we can learn from it.
Registration: https://www.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/en/node/2518
4. Rethinking the Concept of ‘Refugees’
Date: 2021.04
(details to be announced soon)
Registration: https://www.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/en/node/2518
5. Workshop : Art Education for Children with Trauma
Speaker: Gladys Chiu
Thomas Yuen
Date: 2020.12.12 (Sat) 2021.04.24 (Sat)
Time: 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Venue: Digital Scholarship Lab, G/F, University Library, CUHK
Language: Cantonese
Target: Educators, MA students in Social Work, Art Therapy and Psychology
Quota: 15 (On a first-come-first-served basis)
About the Workshop:
What role could art play when it is mediated with children with traumatic experience? Gladys Chiu, who was the art teacher at Whitehead Detention Camp back in the late 80s, is partnering with Thomas Yuen, an art facilitator with over 10 years to share their experience. This workshop is designed with first-hand experience and practical skills about running art workshops with children with traumatic experience. This workshop is designed for educators and MA students.
Registration: https://www.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/en/node/2563
Talk - Art Education for Children with Trauma (Zoom)
Speaker: Gladys Chiu
Lara Hanson
Wanda Ng (all are former artists worked inside the detention camps in Hong Kong)
Date: 2020.12.12 (Sat)
Time: 10am to 12pm
Language: English
This talk is a companion to the Art Education for Children with Trauma workshop. Based on artworks and actual curriculum, Art in the Camps art educators Gladys Chiu, Lara Hanson and Wanda Ng will talk about how they designed the art curriculum for boatpeople children in the camp, and how it was executed.
Recorded talk link :
https://cuhk.zoom.us/rec/share/nbED4MLBCkjwxrUSaIVJ6WQEUxa_jghN93Wzvi7frqx2w3GgOUoQ2viQ8mROeMgU.yd2sliMeu-01N-cn?startTime=1607736769000
Passcode : AIC_Talk2
6. Field Trip to Tai Ah Chau with Les Bird
Host: Les Bird & Leung Ho Yin
Date: 2020.12 05 (postponed until further notice)
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Venue: Tai Ah Chau
Language: English
*Transportation fee will be charged.
