www.diversity-factor.com | Room 2912, Shell Tower, Times Square, 1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong | (852) 81999463

Introduction Based on our recent research, Hong Kong’s legal advice and assistance sector is largely under-developed. Apart from district councillors and a small sector of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), free and impartial legal advice and assistance is barely accessible. Amongst the organizations that we interviewed in our research, many attribute the lack of advice and assistance services to the lack of expertise and resources in service-oriented NGOs. Others attribute it to the low awareness of rights on the part of their service clients. In our research where we focus on advice and assistance given on issues of discrimination and harassment, we find that sexual harassment and employment discrimination are the two most common forms of discrimination encountered in cases handled by NGOs. Yet many NGOs find providing advice and assistance difficult because of the lack of understanding of the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) complaint process and the tactics in dealing with often sophisticated and professional respondents. In order to close the power gap between aggrieved persons (AP) and respondents, expert advice and assistance offered by NGOs are often instrumental in securing the AP’s best interest. In view of this, Diversity Factor has designed a training programme for advocates to provide advice, assistance and representation in discrimination and harassment cases. The Centre for Comparative and Public Law of University of Hong Kong proudly co-presents this workshop with Diversity Factor, as part of its efforts to develop an Emerging Strategic Research Theme on Diversity Studies.

Target Audience This training workshop is designed for people working as NGO advocates, case workers & managers, legal advice providers, unionists, counsellors and social workers working on cases of discrimination and/or harassment. Participants shall have some basic understanding of the relevant laws. They shall ideally have experience in dealing with discrimination or harassment cases.

Objectives This workshop aims to:

• cover definitions of discrimination, harassment, vilification and protected rights

• discuss the roles in the complaint process of aggrieved persons, respondents, representative complainants, witnesses, advocates and investigator and conciliator role of the EOC

• explore how to present facts and formulate allegations with reference to the applicable laws

• explore how to manage the process, expectations and the parties involved

• examine ways to achieve sustainable individual and systemic change

• explain the complaint process and explore the dynamics of the relevant parties, including policy makers and the media

• engage participants in a typical conciliation process

Equal Opportunity Training for Advocates

Co-presented by:

www.diversity-factor.com | Room 2912, Shell Tower, Times Square, 1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong | (852) 81999463

Participatory Approach This workshop uses the Participatory Approach to Learning. At Diversity Factor, we believe that people are more likely to retain and apply what they learn by “doing” and “seeing” rather than by “hearing”. We design our programmes with 80% of our contents delivered by activities, case studies and visual aids and the rest by lecture-style teaching.

Learning Outcomes At the end of the workshop, participants are expected to:

• have a good understanding of the law, the complaint process and the parties involved

• be able to provide advice, assistance and/or representation for clients they serve with respect to their rights protected by the law and in the complaint process

• understand the dynamics of the process and parties involved and advise the client for their best interest

• be able to articulate and advocate for their equality issues at both the individual and policy levels

• be able to represent or assist clients in conciliation meetings

• be able to write up or assist clients in writing up a complaint

About the Trainers

Roddy Shaw

BSc(CityU), LLM(Human Rights, HKU), MA(HKU) Principal Consultant, Diversity Factor Roddy is an advocate for equal opportunity law in Hong Kong since 1995. He has been taking cases to the EOC since 1999 and has ample experience advising and providing training to corporate and individual clients regarding equality and non-discrimination. He has attained the highest single-case settlement amount within EOC’s history. The total settlement amount combined under Roddy’s representation is around HK$3 million (Note: the total settlement amount combined of the EOC since 1996 is HK$34 million. Source: SCMP.). He worked for Business & Human Rights Resource Centre on various corporate responsibility issues including equality & non-discrimination. He has been consulted by the United Nations Special Representative

on Transnational Corporations, HKSAR government as well as multinational corporations regarding business and human rights. He is a seasoned trainer for civil society groups on human rights advocacy and capacity building. Companies he had worked with regarding diversity & human rights include: GE, Bank of America Merrill

Lynch, Cisco, UBS and Nomura. He now teaches human rights and diversity at City University of Hong Kong. Cases he has represented include sex, disability, marital status, pregnancy, family status, HIV, sexual orientation and transgender discrimination. Before his human rights career, Roddy worked for major corporations such as MTRC and PCCW.

Farzana Aslam

Senior Teaching Consultant, Faculty of Law, HKU

Farzana is a Barrister (England and Wales), and a CEDR-accredited Mediator. She practiced at the Bar in England for a period of 7 years, with a particular focus on employment-related disputes, and was formerly Head of Employment Law for Asia at Goldman Sachs. She is currently a Senior Teaching Consultant in the

Faculty of Law at Hong Kong University, and a Director of Kintillo Employment Consultants. She is co-General Editor and Contributing Author of Employment Law and Practice in Hong Kong (Sweet & Maxwell Asia, 2010).

Details

Class Duration: 7 hours Date: 30 November, 2010 (Tues) Time: 1:30-5:30pm; 6:30pm-9:30pm Venue: Rm 306 KK Leung Bldg., HKU Medium: Cantonese (Opening speech in English) Fee: HK$800 per person Registration Form

Name Organization Tel Email Please send this form together with a cheque payable to “Diversity Factor Limited” at Room 2912, Shell Tower, Times Square, 1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay or email the above details to info@diversity-factor.com or fkleung@hku.hk. Please call 8199-9463 for any enquiry.