The Legislative Assembly (AL) yesterday passed the outline of a government-initiated bill proposing a compulsory mediation process by the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) in specific family rows, especially involving litigated divorce, to “resolve family disputes in a more harmonious way”, Cheong said.
Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon introduced the outline of the bill during yesterday’s plenary session of the legislature, noting that the bill specifies the range of family cases, including divorce proceedings, exercise of parental rights, provision of alimony, and housing issues.
According to the bill, considering that family disputes involve the characteristics of kinship ethics and family settlements, which are inherently different to the confrontational characteristics of general civil disputes.
The bill also provides for a pre-litigation mediation system, in which family mediators intervene, so as to resolve family disputes in a more harmonious way.
Some lawmakers raised their concern about the qualification and the workload of the bureau’s mediators, while others questioned why the family dispute mediators must be designated by the bureau, rather than by lawyers or psychologists who “can also handle the cases after [specific] training”.
Cheong said that regarding the credibility of mediation and the need to facilitate staff management, the bill specifies that family mediators should be public administrators in the social work sector designated by the bureau, or civil social workers holding a certificate of registration as a social worker and possessing appropriate experience.
Cheong explained that in the past family disputes, especially litigated divorces, were mediated and concluded by prosecutors, and he acknowledged that some prosecutors are not as experienced as social workers who are experienced in handling family disputes.
Cheong also said that, according to the bill, even though mediation is mandatory, it will not be mandatorily have to result in a successful outcome. He also said the original intention was to reduce conflicts and maintain family harmony.
Cheong acknowledged that the introduction of the pre-trial mediation system will lengthen the time it takes for a divorce to get through, but as the legislative spirit of the bill was not to speed up the process, it was hoped that through mediation, both parties in a divorce would be able to “rethink their situation”.
Cheong added that the government will consider whether there is a need to expand the scope of eligibility of family mediators.
During yesterday’s plenary session, IAS President Wilson Hon Wai noted that the bureau and non-governmental organisations handle over 5,000 family disputes each year, adding that currently there are 14 social workers who often handle severe family disputes and have professional family counselling skills and abilities, adding that there are about 120 social workers in 30 local family and community service centres who meet the professional requirements, a number which was “sufficient” right now.
The bill will now be submitted to one of the legislature’s standing committees for article-by-article review and possible revisions. Finally, the bill will be submitted for an article-by-article vote to another plenary session.
This screenshot captured from a livestream of Macau’s public broadcaster TDM yesterday shows Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon addressing yesterday’s plenary session in the Legislative Assembly’s (AL) hemicycle.
