Special Issues Editorial Notes

• Author: Hon. Joseph V. Kay
• Published date: 01 January 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12066
• Date: 01 January 2014

SPECIAL ISSUES EDITORIAL NOTES

The World Congress on Family Law and Children’s Rights returned to Sydney on March 17–20,

2013, for its sixth incarnation. It also marked the final Congress under the stewardship of its founders,

the Honourable Rod Burr and Justice Stuart Fowler, whowere given a well-deserved standing ovation

at the closing ceremony.

The theme of the Congress was “Building Bridges.” The six plenary sessions and fifty parallel

sessions involved over 180 presenters. The breadth and depth of the presentations once again rein-

forced the excellent reputation already earned by the World Congress as one of the outstanding

meetings for those who are interested in promoting children’s rights.

Without seeking to denigrate from the marvelous quality of any of the papers delivered, there were

several highlights that deserve mention. Some of them are represented by the papers published in this

issue of Family Court Review. Others were presented by way of PowerPoint and are not comfortably

capable of being reproduced in this journal even though their content would no doubt be of interest to

readers. A comprehensive list of many of the presentations can be found at http://www.lawrights.asn

.au/6th-world-congress/papers.html.

Particularly memorable presentations include the plenaries by SurayaPakzad, the remarkably brave

Afghani Executive Director of Voice of Women; Moira Kelly, A.O., an Australian hero who has

adopted several children from gravely disadvantaged situations including cranially conjoined twins

from Bangladesh; and Iraqi-born brothers, Emmanuel and Ahmed Kelly, both born with severely

underdeveloped limbs. Emmanuel, now an accomplished singer, performed at the Congress opening

ceremony. Ahmed swam for Australia at the London Paralympics.

Over thirty presenters submitted papers for publication in this journal. Unfortunately, space

permits me to select only a few, and in endeavoring to give a flavor of the Congress, I have tried to

select papers representing a broad range of topics and including speakers from a wide geographical

area. This is not to say that any of the papers rejected were not worthy of publication.

Without doubt, the overall quality of the Congress was outstanding. Those who were fortunate

enough to attend take with them memories of an outstanding event that was wonderfully conducted by

the Congress Board and the local host committee. The final resolutions of the Congress can be found

at its Web site: www.lawrights.asn.au.

Once again, it would be remiss of me not to thank the Honorable Chief Justice of the Family Court

of Australia, Diana Bryant, my co-joint director of studies, for the support that she has provided to me

in developing the program that we presented at Sydney. Might I urge that you pencil into your diary

2017 and keep an eye on the Web site to see when and where the SeventhWorld Congress on Family

Law and Children’s Rights will take place.

Hon. Joseph V Kay Family Court of Australia, June 1986–February 2008

Appeal Division of Family Court of Australia, from December 1993

Hague Abduction Convention Liaison Judge for Australia, 2000–2009

Member of the faculty of the National Judicial College Reno Nevada

FAMILY COURTREVIEW, Vol. 52 No. 1, January 2014 5

© 2014 Association of Familyand Conciliation Cour ts