22-05-2025
Silence on Hong Kong judges in lady chief justice's international plan
Much hoopla recently as Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill, the lady chief justice, unveiled the 2025-29 international engagement strategy for judges in England and Wales.
'The unique judicial diplomacy,' Carr's office said, would 'promote the rule of law, improve the administration of justice and strengthen economic growth.' Carr herself argued that the efforts were accomplished on a shoestring, wryly noting that on a budget of £169,000 the programme had 'engaged with 52 countries and welcomed over 100 visiting judges from jurisdictions worldwide, from Australia to Nepal and from Tanzania to Japan'.
All very noble work, but absent from Carr's remarks and the judicial office's document was any mention of Hong Kong, arguably the most controversial of jurisdictions on the English judiciary's map. Two prominent English judges
