Details

From 25 to 27 June 2025, HCCH Asia Pacific Week 2025 was held in Seoul, co-hosted by the Republic of Korea and the HCCH. The conference was attended by over 400 participants, representing HCCH Members, non-Member States, intergovernmental organisations, international non-governmental organisations, and independent experts.

Since the inaugural edition of HCCH Asia Pacific Week in 2014, the conference has brought together experts from across Asia and the Pacific for wide-ranging discussions on the most recent developments relating to the HCCH’s key Conventions and instruments, ongoing normative projects, and possible future work. In keeping with previous editions, HCCH Asia Pacific Week 2025 provided a unique opportunity for participants to learn more about the HCCH and its work, to engage with experts from across Asia and the Pacific, and to consider regional experiences and perspectives in the areas of transnational litigation and legal cooperation, international family and child protection law, as well as international commercial, digital and financial law.

HCCH Asia Pacific Week 2025 featured nine substantive sessions, alongside various ceremonies and side events, in which experts from across the region and beyond exchanged viewpoints on different facets of the work of the HCCH:

• Session 1. Challenges and Tasks in Implementing the 1993 Adoption Convention
• Session 2. Implementation of the 1980 Child Abduction Convention
• Session 3. Before and After Joining the 2007 Child Support Convention
• Session 4. The HCCH: Benefits of Membership & Key Conventions
• Session 5. Regional Perspectives on the Use of IT in Implementing the 1965 Service and the 1970 Evidence Conventions
• Session 6. The 2005 Choice of Court Convention and the 2019 Judgments Convention
• Session 7. Prospects of the Jurisdiction Project
• Session 8. Private International Law Issues related to the Carbon Markets Project
• Session 9. Private International Law Issues related to the  Digital Tokens Project

On 26 June, participants attended the launch ceremony for the fifth editions of the Practical Handbooks on the Operation of the 1965 Service and 1970 Evidence Conventions, to be published in July 2025. Finally, prior to the closing ceremony, participants were introduced to the Asia-Pacific Justice Hub, a platform established to promote judicial cooperation and facilitate international legal exchange across the Asia-Pacific region.

The Permanent Bureau of the HCCH is grateful to the Government of the Republic of Korea for its hospitality and generous support of HCCH Asia Pacific Week 2025. In particular, the Permanent Bureau extends its sincere thanks to the Ministry of Justice, the Korea Private International Law Association, the Judicial Policy Research Institute, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice, the National Center for the Rights of the Child, and Seocho-gu Office.

More information about HCCH Asia Pacific Week 2025 is available on the conference website.