
Conference Patron
The Conference Chairs are honoured to welcome Mdm Halimah Yacob, the President of Singapore, as Patron of the 8th Family Law and Children’s Rights Conference 2020.
Patron of the 8th Family Law & Children's Rights Conference 2020: Mdm Halimah Yacob, President of Singapore

May 2018: Portraits of National University of Singapore’s 10th chancellor, President Halimah Yacob. (Photo: RENDY ARYANTO/VVS.sg)
Mdm Halimah Yacob began her career in 1978 as a legal officer with the National Trades Union Congress, and rose up the ranks to be the Executive Secretary of the United Workers of Electronics and the Director of the Women’s Development Secretariat. In 1999, she became the first Singaporean to be elected into the Geneva-based International Labour Organisation (ILO) which she served for four terms.
Mdm Halimah was elected as an MP in 2001 for Jurong Group Representation Constituency (GRC). Her final and fourth term as an MP was in the newly formed Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC. She was Deputy Secretary General of the NTUC before she was appointed Minister of State for MCYS in 2011. In 2013, she was appointed as the ninth Speaker of Parliament, and was the first woman to serve in that capacity.
Mdm Halimah is active in social causes, and is the Patron to more than 40 organisations.
Mdm Halimah was sworn in as the 8th President of the Republic of Singapore on 14 September 2017.
About the Conference
Welcome to the 8th Family Law & Children’s Rights Conference, to be held in Singapore from 11-14 July 2021 and, for the first time, jointly organised by the World Congress on Family Law and Children’s Rights and LAWASIA, The Law Association for Asia and the Pacific.
The Conference is a major international event focusing on family law and family law processes and the rights of children and youth. The Conference is a platform for the convergence of lawyers, judges, academics, government, non-government associations, psychologists, medical professionals and social scientists with a common interest in the active protection of children and in sharing best practices to promote the rights of children and family law issues. The Conference offers an opportunity for delegates to challenge existing protocols and to formulate resolutions on the rights of the child, not only in their own jurisdiction but to provide support for those endeavouring to change laws relating to the denial of human rights for children globally.
The programme will offer many common areas of black letter law for discussion and debate, as well as specific children’s rights issues. The Conference has taken as its theme “Vision 2021: through the eyes of a child “ and will examine a range of topics including: new approaches to family justice and child issues; the exploitation of children; protecting especially vulnerable children; changing family formations; international families; social media and children; adoption, surrogacy, parentage; a diagnosis and possible interventions for troubled families; financial rights, including property, offshore assets, cryptocurrencies, as well as international, social and cultural considerations. In addition, in a world of highly mobile families, the Conference will give attention to the ways in which family law meets the various needs of families in whatever form, in order to provide a structure which can effectively and justly provide for its members who are the subject of relationship breakdown. The primary aim of the Conference is to develop outcomes that directly benefit those who are especially vulnerable and disadvantaged.
The strength of the Conference is its delegates and we look forward to your participation in this event and to welcoming you at the Conference.