The symposium on safeguarding national security for the social welfare sector of Hong Kong, jointly organised by the Labour and Welfare Bureau (LWB) and the Social Welfare Department (SWD) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the Connecting Hearts, was held today (April 8) to further enhance the sector's awareness of safeguarding national security.
Officiated by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, the symposium attracted over 8 000 participants from the social welfare sector of Hong Kong, who took part both online and offline. The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun; the Director-General of the Social Work Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR, Mr Liu Songlin; and Vice-Chairman of the Connecting Hearts and head of the Connecting Hearts Academy, Professor Annie Tam, also attended the symposium.
Addressing the symposium, Mr Chan said that the HKSAR Government has achieved fruitful results in safeguarding national security and promoting patriotic education over the past year or so, including the completion of the legislation on Article 23 of the Basic Law that ensures the smooth implementation of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance as well as the amendments to the Social Workers Registration Ordinance which foster a better environment for social welfare professionals to leverage their expertise.
Mr Chan said that the social welfare sector is charged with the important and long-term responsibilities in serving the community and caring for members of the public. It is also their mission and duty to safeguard national security. He urged the social welfare sector to continue collaborating with the HKSAR Government to sustain efforts in safeguarding national security, thereby ensuring the healthy development of welfare services in Hong Kong and enhanced safeguards for public well-being.
A sharing session was held at the symposium where Mr Sun was joined by six representatives from different fields of the social welfare sector, including professors from education institutions, management of social welfare organisations and professional social workers, to explore how the sector can fulfil the responsibility of safeguarding national security and promote patriotic education. Mr Sun said that the LWB and the SWD have been working closely with social welfare organisations in the previous year to promote national security education within the sector through organising symposiums, seminars and visits with a view to enhancing the sector's understanding of national affairs. A dedicated fund of $500 million was rolled out last year, in which $100 million was allocated to non-governmental organisations operating subvented welfare services to arrange Mainland exchange tours and national studies programmes for their staff members. Among these tours and programmes, the "Thousands of Hong Kong Social Workers Exploring the Motherland" exchange tours organised by the Connecting Hearts have achieved remarkable results. Visits to Chaozhou, Shaoguan, Guangzhou and Foshan have attracted about 1 400 participants in total.
Member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Ms Starry Lee, and the Director of the National Security and Legal Education Research Centre of the Education University of Hong Kong, Professor Gu Minkang, also shared their valuable insights on patriotic education as well as national security and the law at the symposium respectively, which enabled participants to have deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the relevant topics.
Photo shows the Director of the National Security and Legal Education Research Centre of the Education University of Hong Kong, Professor Gu Minkang, giving a talk on national security and the law at the symposium.
Photo shows (from left) the Director of the National Security and Legal Education Research Centre of the Education University of Hong Kong, Professor Gu Minkang; the Director of Social Welfare, Mr Edward To; the Permanent Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Ms Alice Lau; the Director-General of the Social Work Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR, Mr Liu Songlin; the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki; the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun; the Under Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Ho Kai-ming; member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Ms Starry Lee; and Vice-Chairman of the Connecting Hearts and head of the Connecting Hearts Academy, Professor Annie Tam, at the symposium.
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